Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act

What this does

This bill bars the Federal Reserve from building or issuing a central bank digital currency. It amends the Federal Reserve Act so a Federal reserve bank may not offer financial products or services directly to an individual, maintain an account for an individual, or issue a central bank digital currency. It also bars a reserve bank from offering such a currency indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary. It prohibits the Board of Governors from testing, studying, developing, creating, or implementing a central bank digital currency, and bars the Board and the Federal Open Market Committee from using one to conduct monetary policy. A central bank digital currency is defined as digital money denominated in the national unit of account, a direct liability of the Federal Reserve, and widely available to the general public. An exception preserves any dollar currency that is open, permissionless, private, and keeps the privacy protections of physical cash. The bill states the sense of Congress that the Board currently lacks authority to issue such a currency and will not have it unless Congress grants it.