The Republican Representative of the United States, Warren Davidson, has reiterated his stance against government central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), claiming that they should be banned and declared criminal.
Responding to a job posting from the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank for a “senior crypto architect” to work on the CBDC project, Davidson accused the Fed of “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star.”
He urged the government to ‘swiftly’ ban and criminalize any activity related to the design, manufacture, development or testing of CBDCs.
“Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) turns money into a tool of coercion and control.”
In a separate tweet, Davidson said money should not be programmed by a central authority and advocated the use of permissionless peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions instead of CBDCs.
“Money should be a stable store of value and an efficient means of exchange, not a tool of surveillance, coercion and control,” he said.
The Congressman representing Ohio’s 8th District has been highly vocal against the development of CBDCs. Davidson in March wrote a letter In Congress, urged his allies to fight against the CBDC. He also said that the government is favoring the use of state-owned CBDCs as money in private transactions, which would affect the privacy and freedom of US citizens in cash transactions.
Davidson had earlier in April introduced legislation to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, citing a “long series of misconduct” as his motivation.
Digital dollar fades away
The Fed has been actively involved in researching a government-backed CBDC – digital dollar – which has sparked controversy in the country. However, it states that the CBDC will not be issued without the approval of Congress.
Like Davidson, a group of anti-CBDC politicians have emerged with the message that the digital dollar needs to be feared, he added. For example, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, banned The use of a “centralized digital dollar” in May.
“The movement to establish a central bank digital currency is an attempt to monitor and control Americans’ finances. This would violate privacy, limit consumer choice and undermine market competitiveness,” DeSantis said at the time.
Additionally, Republican Tom Emmer has warned against state-controlled digital money, calling it a “weapon” to spy on US citizens. He also introduced a bill – the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act – to prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing CBDCs in the US, as well as improve oversight of all CBDC-related work done at the Fed.
Due to opposition from various US House of Representatives, the prospect of a digital dollar looks bleak in the near future.