North Carolina’s House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill prohibiting the state’s agencies and institutions from accepting payments in central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
Representatives voted 118-0 (with two excused absences) in favor of the bill, in its second reading, that would prevent the state’s court system or any agencies tied to the state from accepting a Fed Reserve-issued digital dollar. The bill also bans the state from participating in any pilot tests CBDCs.
While the U.S. Treasury has said leaders are evaluating the issuance of a digital dollar, countries like China have already run pilots, and the European Union is nearing the end of a two-year experiment into a digital euro.
But U.S. lawmakers are increasingly opposing the issuance of a digital dollar, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposing similar legislation to ban CBDC payments in his state. Crypto ally Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has said CBDCs could be weaponized as a political tool.
The North Carolina bill was, in fact, introduced in early April under the title “No Cryptocurrency Payments to State,” and was changed to focus on digital currencies issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve in an edition filed on Tuesday.
The bill is sponsored by North Carolina Representatives Harry Warren and Mark Brody.
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