Senate Overwhelmingly Passes CBDC Ban Attached to Bipartisan Housing Bill

In brief

• The Senate passed a housing bill containing a ban on an American CBDC, or “digital dollar.”
• The ban would last until 2031, if the bill is signed into law.
• But the legislation currently faces some opposition in the House, and a reported lack of enthusiasm from the president.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill Thursday containing a ban on the development of an American CBDC, often called a “digital dollar”—but the legislation has some ways to go before it’s signed into law. The ban on an American CBDC, or central bank digital currency, would last until 2031. It was added to a sweeping housing bill otherwise unrelated to crypto, dubbed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. That bill passed the Senate on Thursday with rare, overwhelming support—89 to 10. CBDCs are cryptocurrencies issued by a government to act as a cash equivalent. In recent years, they have attracted controversy in the United States, particularly among conservatives who argue such a token could be used by the state to monitor holders’ financial activities.

 But the CBDC ban is not law yet. The housing bill it’s currently attached to currently faces several hurdles, most notably opposition in the House, which still needs to pass the legislation before it can be signed into law by President Donald Trump. House Republicans have skirmished with their Senate counterparts for weeks now over key provisions in the bill related to a ban on large institutions investing in single family homes. “It is critical we get the details right and mitigate some of the concerns raised by House members with the Senate bill,” Rep. French Hill (R-AR), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, said in response to Thursday’s theoretically final Senate vote on the housing package.

Further, even if the bill is passed by both chambers of Congress, it may not become law immediately. Earlier this week, the president threatened he will refuse to sign any bills into law until lawmakers pass the SAVE Act, a controversial voting reform bill currently facing steep odds of success. Trump told House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) earlier this week that “no one gives a [bleep] about housing,” according to Punchbowl News_._