H.R. 1919

Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act

Sponsor: Tom Emmer

135 cosponsors
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act 

This bill prohibits a Federal Reserve bank from offering products or services directly to an individual, maintaining an account on behalf of an individual, or issuing a central bank digital currency (i.e., a digital dollar). Further, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is prohibited from using a central bank digital currency to implement monetary policy or from testing, studying, creating, or implementing a central bank digital currency, with exceptions as provided by the bill.

Text of the bill

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Sec. 4. Prohibition with respect to central bank digital currency Since introduced

Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 241 et seq.) is amended by inserting before paragraph (12) the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(11) Prohibition with respect to central bank digital currency

(A) In general. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may not test, study, develop, create, or implement a central bank digital currency, or any digital asset that is substantially similar under any other name or label.

(B) Monetary policy. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee may not use a central bank digital currency to implement monetary policy, or any digital asset that is substantially similar under any other name or label.

(C) Exception. Subparagraph (A) and sections 16(18)(A)(iii) and 16(19)(A) may not be construed to prohibit any dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private, and fully preserves the privacy protections of United States coins and physical currency.

(D) Central bank digital currency defined. In this paragraph, the term central bank digital currency means a form of digital money or monetary value that is—

(i) denominated in the national unit of account;

(ii) a direct liability of the Federal Reserve System; and

(iii) widely available to the general public.