The North Carolina House of Representatives has unanimously passed legislation aimed at banning payments to US states using central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.
All 118 members of the state's legislation agreed to pass House Bill 690 in the May 3 ballot, with only two representatives absent and no one voting against it. The latest version of the legislation seeks to prohibit individuals from using CBDC to make any payments to the state, and prohibits the Federal Reserve from using North Carolina as a potential testing ground for its CBDC pilot. North Carolina lawmakers introduced the bill to the House of Representatives in April, where it was considered and voted unanimously. The legislation proposes changing regulations to require that “no state agency or ordinary court” can accept payments using CBDC or participate in the Federal Reserve's testing of a digital dollar.
The legislative push for CBDC appears to be becoming more political ahead of the 2024 US election. In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was expected by many to emerge in the US presidential race calling for a ban on CBDCs in the country, claiming the technology was solely for “surveillance and control over Americans.” the behavior of”. At the federal level, both Representative Tom Emmer and Senator Ted Cruz have introduced separate bills aimed at limiting the Fed's powers over CBDCs or proposing an outright ban. Another US presidential candidate , Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claimed that CBDCs could “facilitate the slide of financial slavery and political tyranny.”
The North Carolina bill will move to the Senate, where it must pass to be signed into law or vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper. On May 2, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina also approved a one-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining .
