Congressman Warren Davidson calls to ban and criminalize CBDCs

United States Republican Representative Warren Davidson has spoken out against Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), urging Congress to ban them and criminalize its development.

In a July 23 Twitter post, Congressman Davidson accused the Federal Reserve of “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star,” stating that CBDCs corrupts money into a tool for coercion and control, adding: 

“Congress must swiftly ban then criminalize any effort to design, build, develop, test or establish a CBDC.”

Davidson’s comments came in response to a position advertised by San Francisco’s Federal Reserve Bank for a “senior crypto architect” to work on a CBDC project.

Responding to a comment from a Twitter user, Davidson argued that money should be a stable store of value, and should not be programmable by a central authority.

“Sound money should facilitate permission-less peer-to-peer transactions,” he added.

The Federal Reserve has been actively researching the technology for a potential digital dollar but has not made any decisions on whether to issue one. The possibility of a digital version of the U.S. dollar has stirred controversy in the country and is expected to be a key talking point in the upcoming presidential election.

Congressman Davidson is also not alone in his concern over a potential Fed-controlled digital dollar.

On July 14, U.S. presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he would “nix any central bank digital currency” if he became president. In May, DeSantis signed a bill restricting the use of CBDCs in the state.

Related: IMF’s CBDC push gets feedback from the crypto community — ‘No one wants this’

Republican Tom Emmer has also been vocal in his warnings over state-controlled digital money. In March, the libertarian think tank said a programmable CBDC would be “easily weaponized” as a spying tool to “choke out politically unpopular activity.”

Emmer introduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act in February to “halt efforts of unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC from stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy.” The bill was endorsed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz who introduced his own CBDC blocking bill in March.

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