US Representative Warren Davidson Criticizes CBDCs But Instead Advocates Permissionless P2P Money -TGN

United States Republican Representative Warren Davidson has reiterated his position against a government central bank (CBDC) digital currency, claiming it should be banned and criminalized.

In response to a job posting from the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank for a “senior crypto architect” to work on a CBDC project, Davidson accused the Fed of “building the financial equivalent of the Death Star.”

He urged the government to “swiftly” ban and criminalize any activity related to the design, construction, development or testing of CBDCs.

In a separate Tweet, Davidson noted that money should not be programmable by a central authority and advocated the use of permissionless peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions instead of CBDCs.

“Money should be a stable store of value and an efficient medium of exchange, not an instrument of surveillance, coercion and control,” he noted.

The congressman representing Ohio’s 8th district has been very vocal against the development of CBDCs. In March, Davidson wrote a letter to Congress and urged his colleagues to fight back against CBDCs. He also noted that the government favors the use of state-owned CBDC in private transactions as money, which will affect the privacy and freedom of US citizens in cash transactions.

Davidson had previously introduced legislation to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler in April, citing a “long string of abuses” as his motivation.

Range of digital dollar is fading

The Fed has been actively involved in the investigation of a government-backed CBDC – digital dollar – that has sparked controversy in the country. However, it said a CBDC would not be issued without Congressional authorization.

That said, like Davidson, a group of anti-CBDC politicians have come forward with the message that the digital dollar is something to be feared. For example, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for president, forbidden the use of a ‘centralized digital dollar’ in May.

“The movement to establish a central bank digital currency is an effort to monitor and control the finances of Americans. It would violate privacy, limit consumer choice and undermine the competitiveness of the marketplace,” DeSantis noted at the time.

In addition, Republican Tom Emmer has warned against state-controlled digital money, calling it a “weapon” to spy on US citizens. He also introduced a bill – the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act – to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC in the US, and to improve oversight of all CBDC-related work at the Fed.

With much opposition from several US House of Representatives, a digital dollar seems less likely in the near future.