U.S. Senate passes housing bill that carries four-year ban on a Fed CBDC
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- The U.S. Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in an 85-5 vote Monday night, embedding a provision barring the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC or substantially similar digital asset for four years through end of 2030
- Republican lawmakers inserted the CBDC ban into the housing bill, labeling a digital dollar a dangerous government surveillance overreach even though the Fed had not been actively developing one
- Former Fed Chair Jerome Powell had previously indicated that even if the Fed pursued a CBDC, it would delegate operation and management to banks — undercutting the financial police-state narrative driving the ban
- New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh told his nomination hearing he fully opposed a U.S. CBDC, calling it a "bad policy choice"
- President Trump signed a January 2025 executive order prohibiting his administration from moving toward a CBDC, citing threats to financial system stability, individual privacy, and U.S. sovereignty
- The House of Representatives is reportedly weighing an accelerated vote on the housing bill as soon as Tuesday, with Trump's signature needed to enact the CBDC provision into law
Why it matters: The ban locks in U.S. opposition to a retail CBDC through 2030 even though the Federal Reserve showed no appetite for one, ceding ground to the European Central Bank's digital euro pilot (slated for next year, full launch 2029) and China's already-active digital yuan. The move formalizes a policy stance that was already de facto, trading optionality for ideological alignment with Trump's executive order.
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