The U.S. Senate has vetoed the digital dollar: CBDC banned until 2030
The U.S. legislative body has taken a decisive step that is reshaping the landscape of digital currencies in the United States. The Senate passed a sweeping housing law, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which, in addition to addressing housing affordability issues, contains a direct and categorical ban on the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The vote result — 85 in favor versus 5 — demonstrates rare bipartisan unity on this issue.
The bill H.R. 6644 directly prohibits the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) and any federal reserve banks from issuing, creating, or otherwise putting into circulation a CBDC, as well as any digital assets "substantially similar" to such a currency. This moratorium is in effect until December 31, 2030. Importantly, stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar are exempt from the ban, confirming the priority of private solutions over government ones.
An Unusual Alliance: Housing and Financial Privacy
The attachment of the anti-CBDC provision to a housing law is not a coincidence but a skillful legislative maneuver, allowing an initiative unpopular with the central bank to be "smuggled" into a must-pass package. House Republicans, long opposed to the digital dollar, insisted on including this clause. Their key argument is the threat to privacy and the inevitable transformation of a CBDC into a tool of total financial surveillance by the state.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill emphasized that housing affordability begins with supply, and this law takes a "significant step toward building new homes and reducing costs for American families." However, for us, as crypto market analysts, it is clear that this step has far more profound implications for the entire digital economy.
Next Steps and Administration Stance
The document now heads to a vote in the House of Representatives, where Republicans, according to insiders, plan to hold an expedited vote immediately after returning from recess on June 23. After that, the law will land on the president's desk. The current administration of Donald Trump has already taken a firm stance: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that a CBDC is "definitively off the agenda," and all government efforts are focused on advancing the relevant digital assets law, the Clarity Act.
Currently, there is no active federal project to create a digital dollar in the United States, and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh previously stated his complete disagreement with such an initiative. This contrasts with global trends; for example, the European Central Bank is preparing a pilot for a digital euro as early as next year.
My analysis: The ban on CBDCs until 2030 is not merely a technical delay but a strategic choice by the U.S. in favor of decentralized, private digital assets and stablecoins. This is a powerful signal to the market that could accelerate the development of crypto regulation and strengthen the position of dollar-backed stablecoins as a global means of settlement, while simultaneously postponing the Fed's ambitions to create its own digital currency indefinitely.