CBDC Ban And Criminalization Urged By Rep. Warren Davidson
“Money should not be programmable by a central authority,” Republican Representative Warren Davidson contends.
Warren Davidson, a Republican in Congress, has spoken out against central bank digital currencies and called on Congress to refuse and criminalize their creation.
Congressman Davidson claimed on Twitter on July 23 that the Federal Reserve was “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star,” adding that CBDCs corrupt money and turn it into a tool for oppression and control.
“Congress must swiftly ban then criminalize any effort to design, build, develop, test or establish a CBDC.”
Davidson’s remarks responded to a job posting for a “senior crypto architect” to work on a CBDC project by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
In response to a tweet, Davidson stated that money should be a reliable store of value and not be subject to centralized control.
“Sound money should facilitate permission-less peer-to-peer transactions,” he added.
The Federal Reserve has been analyzing the technology for a coming digital currency, but decisions on its distribution have yet to be made. The prospect of a digital U.S. dollar has flashed arguments in the nation and will likely come up frequently during the 2018 presidential election.
Additionally, Congressman Davidson is one of many worried about a hypothetical digital dollar under Fed control.
Florida Governor and U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis declared on July 14 that, if elected, he will “nix any central bank digital currency.” DeSantis signed a law regulating the use of CBDCs in the state in May.
Republican Tom Emmer has even spoken out strongly against the state-run digital currency. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, claimed in March that a programmable CBDC might be “easily weaponized” as a brilliance device to “choke out politically unpopular activity.”
In February, Emmer sponsored the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act to “halt efforts by unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC from stripping Americans of their right to financial privacy.” Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who submitted his own CBDC blocking bill in March, praised the bill.
