Republican rep from Minnesota launches opening salvo against Fed’s proposed CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) cryptocurrency.
A Republican rep from Minnesota has introduced a bill that would ban the Federal Reserve’s proposed rollout of its CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) cryptocurrency scheme.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) on Sunday unveiled the “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act,” which aims to “halt the efforts of unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that dismantles Americans’ right to financial privacy.”
A press release from Emmer’s office describes CBDC as “government-controlled programmable money that…could give the federal government the ability to surveil Americans’ transactions and choke out politically unpopular activity.”
In a statement, Rep. Emmer compared the CBDC to a Chinese-social credit score system, and accused the Biden administration of being “willing to compromise the American people’s right to financial privacy for a surveillance-style CBDC.”
“If not designed to be open, permissionless, and private – emulating cash – a government-issued CBDC is nothing more than a CCP-style surveillance tool that would be used to undermine the American way of life,” Emmer stated.
Speaking to reporters this week, Rep. Emmer pointed out, “This bill ensures the future of cyrpto is in the hands of the American people, not the administrative state.”
Addressing the CBDC at the Seventh Annual Fintech Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last week, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr made it clear the Fed is chomping at the bit for the green light from legislators.
“We continue to speak to a broad range of stakeholders and conduct basic research in emerging technologies that might support a CBDC payments backbone, or for other purposes in the existing payments system,” Barr said. “For example, the Fed’s CBDC research program is currently focused on system architecture, notably how ledgers that record ownership of and transactions in digital assets are maintained, secured, and verified, as well as tokenization models—that is, the design of the digital analog to the paper bank note that permits a transfer of value between two parties without direct facilitation by the issuing central bank.”
“The Federal Reserve has made no decision on issuing a CBDC and would only proceed with the issuance of a CBDC with clear support from the executive branch and authorizing legislation from Congress,” he continued. “Given the importance of this infrastructure, investigating the potential opportunities, risks, and tradeoffs for payments innovation is just one way the Fed fulfills its role in supporting the responsible innovation that enables a safe and efficient U.S. payments system.”
Given the Federal Reserve’s ongoing support for the CBDC, Representative Emmer’s bill couldn’t have been introduced at a more opportune moment.
Original Article: https://www.newswars.com/republican-introduces-bill-to-ban-federal-reserve-from-creating-central-bank-digital-currency/
