The four-year ban on a U.S. central bank digital currency was hours from being signed into law - until Trump yanked the ceremony over an unrelated voter ID bill.
Four-Year CBDC Ban Now a Bargaining Chip
President Trump cancelled Wednesday's planned signing of the bipartisan housing affordability bill because it also carries a four-year prohibition on a Federal Reserve CBDC, extending through 2030. He demanded the SAVE America Act - a set of contentious federal voting requirements - be passed first. Trump posted on Truth Social that the signing is "hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency."
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters the voting bill is "stuck in the Senate" and needs to be attached to another budget bill. Both parties had embraced the housing effort, but Trump's move puts the CBDC ban in limbo.
Crypto industry critics of a digital dollar - who argued a Fed-controlled CBDC could surveil citizens' finances - now face a delay on the ban they wanted. Trump already signed an executive order last year banning U.S. moves toward a CBDC, but a statutory ban would have locked it in through 2030.
Clarity Act Clock Is Ticking
The bigger risk for crypto in Washington is the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the industry's primary market-structure bill. The Senate has roughly five weeks before its summer break. Every day of this legislative hostage situation eats into that window.
Trump called the housing bill "of minor importance compared to lower interest rates" and blasted Senator Elizabeth Warren's involvement. The constitution gives him 10 days to weigh a bill once it lands on his desk, but he's now forcing Congress to choose: advance the SAVE America Act or lose the CBDC ban and possibly the Clarity Act's passage in 2026.
Source: Trump refuses to sign law with U.S. CBDC ban, demands approval of elections bill
Domain: coindesk.com
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