Crypto Journalist
Amin Ayan
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Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) on Tuesday introduced an amendment to the massive annual defense bill that would block the creation of a US central bank digital currency.
Key Takeaways:
- Rep. Keith Self moved to add an anti-CBDC amendment back into the defense bill.
- Conservatives say GOP leaders broke a promise to include CBDC restrictions.
- The amendment would block a Fed digital dollar and protect cash-like privacy.
Self said GOP leaders had previously promised that anti-CBDC language would be included in the legislation, but it was missing from the version released Sunday.
“Promises were broken to include this language in the NDAA,” he wrote on X. “My amendment would fix the bill.”
House Pushes Ahead on Defense Bill as Self Seeks to Block Fed Digital Dollar
House leaders are aiming to pass the defense package on Wednesday afternoon, according to Politico, though negotiations remain fluid.
Self’s proposal, titled the “Anti-CBDC Surveillance State” amendment, would bar the Federal Reserve from developing, testing, or issuing a central bank digital currency, or any similar digital asset under a different name.
It would also prohibit Federal Reserve banks from offering accounts or financial services directly to individuals, a move supporters say is critical to preventing government-controlled consumer banking.
The amendment includes an exception for “dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private,” a carve-out aimed at ensuring paper-cash-level privacy protections.
The broader defense bill, formally known as the annual authorization for Pentagon spending and policy, spans more than 3,000 pages and is typically considered one of Congress’s few must-pass measures each year.
The absence of the CBDC language angered conservatives, who saw it as a retreat from earlier commitments.
Self told Fox Business that House Republicans had been promised the amendment authored by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, one of Congress’s most outspoken CBDC critics.
After reviewing the bill, Self said it was clear the provision had been dropped.
“We have to pass an NDAA, because it’s one of the must-pass bills we have in Congress,” he said. “We’ve got to fix it and get it passed.”
CBDC Could Give Government Control Over Americans’ Money
Several Republicans echoed his frustration. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she supports cryptocurrency but opposes any system that could allow the federal government to restrict how Americans use their money.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) warned that a CBDC would “insert the government between you and your money” and said Congress must pass a statutory ban, not rely solely on executive action.
Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order barring federal agencies from issuing or promoting any form of CBDC, citing risks to privacy and national sovereignty.
However, House GOP aides told The Hill that negotiations over a separate bipartisan housing package derailed efforts to include a CBDC ban in the defense bill, saying the final language “was not something that was ultimately going to be acceptable to our members.”
