Sponsors (136)
The bill preserves individual privacy, the current role of banks, and congressional control by prohibiting a Fed retail CBDC, but that protection comes at the cost of foregoing potential consumer benefits (cheaper, faster payments and greater financial inclusion), slowing innovation, and limiting Fed crisis-response tools.
Nearly all individuals keep stronger privacy protections because the Fed is barred from offering a retail CBDC that could enable new transaction surveillance or control.
Banks and private payment firms retain the existing retail payments role (no competing Fed retail accounts), preserving incumbents' business and the current market structure for payments.
The bill clarifies the Federal Reserve’s role and constrains unilateral Fed issuance of a retail CBDC, preserving congressional control and reducing some legal uncertainty about Fed retail activities.
Consumers—especially low-income and underserved households—may be denied potential benefits of a Fed-backed retail CBDC such as faster, lower-cost digital payments, broader financial access, and more efficient transfers.
The bill restricts Federal Reserve policy tools in crises (e.g., direct transfers to households or using a CBDC for monetary policy), reducing government flexibility to respond to emergencies.
By blocking Fed retail options and using vaguely worded limits, the bill could slow private-sector innovation, entrench incumbent payment providers, and raise compliance/market-entry costs for fintechs.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Statutorily forbids the Federal Reserve (Board, Reserve Banks, FOMC) from creating, testing, offering, or using a CBDC or substantially similar digital asset, directly or indirectly to individuals.
Official title: To amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit the Federal reserve banks from offering certain products or services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 6, 2025 by Thomas Earl Emmer · Last progress July 17, 2025
Prohibits the Federal Reserve System from creating, offering, testing, studying, or implementing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or any substantially similar digital asset, either directly to individuals or indirectly through intermediaries. It also bars the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee from using a CBDC to implement monetary policy and states a nonbinding view that the Fed lacks authority to issue a CBDC absent clear Congressional authorization. The bill adds explicit statutory definitions and privacy-oriented exceptions for privately issued, permissionless, dollar-denominated currencies, and it amends existing Federal Reserve Act provisions to remove any ambiguity about issuing retail digital money or using such instruments in monetary operations.