A ‘No Digital Dollar Act’ has been introduced by a US senator for prohibiting the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury from interfering in the use of paper currency by Americans if a CBDC is adopted.
The bill in question further states that no central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be granted the status of legal tender in the United States Code under section 16 5103 of title 31.
New bill
On Thursday, a new bill was announced by US Senator James Lankford, which is called the No Digital Dollar Act aimed at ensuring that if a digital currency is adopted in the country, it will not interfere with the use of paper money.
The bill is meant to prevent interference from the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve and to allow people to maintain their privacy by using cash and coins for their transactions.
Amendments will be made to the Federal Reserve Act to ensure that the Federal Reserve does not discontinue notes, even if a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is launched.
This is highlighted in the text of the proposed bill, which further asserts that the Secretary of Treasury will also continue issuing and minting coins even if there is a digital currency.
The concerns
According to Senator Lankford, people living in his state have expressed their concerns about the Treasury phasing out paper money in order to help people transition to a digital dollar.
He went on to say that most residents in Oklahoma prefer to use hard currency, or want to have the option of hard currency if they want to use it.
He also added that as far as digital money is concerned, people still have questions about it, along with security risks and cyber concerns.
He also said that there was no reason for digital and paper money to coexist in the country and Americans should be allowed to decide what option they wish to use for carrying and spending.
The senator said that with technological advancement, people should not have to worry about their money being deleted, or every single transaction they make being tracked.
CBDC
The lawmaker also added that no federal statute currently exists that prohibits the Treasury from only keeping a digital currency.
Like many other global central banks, the US Federal Reserve is also working on developing a digital dollar.
However, the chairman of the Fed, Jerome Powell said last week that it would take at least a few years for them to develop a US central bank digital currency (CBDC).
He stated that they were looking at it very carefully and were evaluating the policy as well as the technological issues associated with it.
He revealed that they were using a broad scope for this purpose, which means that it will take time for them to develop a functioning CBDC.
Meanwhile, many other countries have already made significant progress in terms of CBDC development, with China already carrying out several trials of its digital yuan.