Davidson claimed CBDC will turn money into an instrument of coercion and control.
CBDC has been the subject of serious consideration at the Federal Reserve.
Warren Davidson, a Republican Rep in the United States, has spoken out against CBDC, calling on Congress to outlaw them and declare their development illegal. Rep. Davidson tweeted on July 23 that the Federal Reserve was “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star” because of CBDCs, which he said turned money into an instrument of coercion and control.
Davidson stated:
“Congress must swiftly ban then criminalize any effort to design, build, develop, test or establish a CBDC.”
Final Decision Yet to be Taken
Furthermore, Davidson made those remarks in response to an ad posted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco seeking a “senior crypto architect” to work on a CBDC project. In response to a user’s tweet, Davidson stated that currency should serve as a reliable store of value and not be programmable by centralized authorities.
Although CBDC has been the subject of serious consideration at the Federal Reserve, a final decision has yet to be taken. It’s safe to assume that the prospect of a digital version of the U.S. dollar will be a hotly debated topic in the upcoming presidential election.
On the other hand, after extensive testing employing technology underpinning crypto, the French National Bank revealed on Friday that it had concluded that the country’s wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) will enhance cross-border payments, settlement finality, and security for a wide variety of financial instruments.
Moreover, in March 2020, the Banque de France launched its wCBDC experimentation program. By the middle of 2022, it had finished a second round of tests and had completed twelve total. Also, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Swiss National Bank have all participated in related trials.