The North Carolina House of Representatives has unanimously approved legislation prohibiting payments to the state using central bank digital currency (CBDC) and limiting the Federal Reserve from using the state as a potential testing ground for its CBDC pilot.
On May 3, 118 members of the state legislature voted to approve House Bill 690, with two representatives absent and none voting against it. The most recent version of the bill intended to prevent individuals from using CBDCs to make any payments to the state and to prevent the Federal Reserve from using North Carolina as a potential testing ground for its own CBDC pilot.
In April, lawmakers from North Carolina introduced the measure to the House, where it remained in committee before readings and a vote. The legislation proposed amending statutes so that “neither a State agency nor the General Court of Justice” may take CBDC payments or participate in Federal testing of a digital dollar.
In the United States, the legislative drive against CBDCs is gaining political relevance ahead of the 2024 elections. In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — widely anticipated to run for president — called for a ban on CBDC in the United States, claiming the technology was about “surveilling Americans and controlling the behavior of Americans.”
Representative Tom Emmer and Senator Ted Cruz have introduced separate proposals at the federal level aimed at limiting the Fed’s authority over CBDCs or proposing a complete ban. Another U.S. presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has stated that CBDCs could “grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny.”
The North Carolina bill will proceed to the Senate, which must pass before Governor Roy Cooper can sign it into law or veto it. On May 2, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina also approved a one-year ban on cryptocurrency mining.
