Trump Has 10 Days to Act on Housing Bill With CBDC Ban
A housing bill with a provision blocking the Fed from issuing a digital dollar until 2030 is now on Trump's desk after House Speaker Mike Johnson's transmission.
A significant but largely overlooked provision tucked inside a housing bill is now awaiting President Donald Trump's signature or veto. House Speaker Mike Johnson transmitted the legislation to the White House on Monday, starting a 10-day constitutional clock for Trump to act. Embedded within the housing measure is a clause that would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a central bank digital currency — commonly known as a CBDC — until at least 2030.
The pairing of a CBDC restriction with housing legislation reflects the increasingly common legislative tactic of attaching politically charged riders to must-pass or broadly supported bills. A standalone CBDC ban might face a more uncertain path through Congress, but bundled with housing provisions it gains a different kind of momentum. The practical effect, if signed, would be to freeze any Fed exploration of a retail digital dollar for the better part of this decade.
Read more Trump Criticizes Supreme Court Ruling on Mississippi Mail-In Ballots →
The stakes are considerable. Central bank digital currencies have become a flashpoint in debates over financial surveillance, monetary sovereignty, and the future architecture of the payments system. Critics argue a Fed-issued CBDC could give the government unprecedented visibility into individual transactions; proponents counter that the US risks ceding ground to China's digital yuan and other state-backed currencies if it falls behind. A legislated moratorium would effectively sideline that debate in the US for years.
Trump has been publicly skeptical of CBDCs, making it plausible — though not certain — that he would sign the bill rather than return it to Congress. Should he take no action within the 10-day window while Congress remains in session, the bill becomes law automatically. The outcome will be closely watched by both the crypto industry and traditional financial institutions tracking the evolving regulatory posture of Washington toward digital money.
Continue reading at Cointelegraph.
