Three Republican senators introduced legislation to protect Americans against the “Authoritarian Digital Currencies Act.”
The United States is taking steps to safeguard the country against the potentially undesirable effects of China’s global adoption of its national digital currency.
Tom Cotton, Mike Braun, and Marco Rubio are all Republican senators who introduced legislation on May 25. It aimed to limit the US’s use of China’s central bank digital currency, CBDC (CBDC), in China.
The bill is called “Defending Americans From Authoritarian Digital Currencies Act”. proposes prohibiting the use of China’s digital currency payment system, e–CNY, for U.S. apps stores and other purposes.
Sentences noted that the term “app store” refers to all websites, apps, or electronic services which are publicly available and distribute apps from third-party vendors to users of computers, mobile devices, or any other “general-purpose computing device”.
The bill states that app and software distributors in America shall not enable or support transactions in eCNY, nor any app that supports such transactions.
Senators argued that banning China’s digital currency in the U.S. would allow the nation to avoid “direct control” of financial transactions and surveillance.
Cotton is a well-known proponent of U.S. Digital Dollar project. Specifically argued the possibility of a CBDC being used to spy on financial activities of individuals.
“The Chinese Communist Party will use their digital currency to spy on everyone who uses it,” We cannot give China this chance — the United States must reject China’s attempts to undermine our economy at its lowest level.”
Senator Braun stated that it was unacceptable for an authoritarian regime, such as the one in control of digital currencies controlled by the state, to attempt to penetrate our economy and steal private information from American citizens. Rubio stated that this was a serious financial and surveillance risk the United States cannot afford.
China is the first country to launch its own digital currency, and launched its first digital Yuan trials in April 2019. After multiple tests, the Chinese government actively promoted cross-border digital currency implementations, working closely with the central banks of Hong Kong and Singapore.
The Chinese CBDC has been viewed by the U.S. authorities as a national safety threat. Another bill was introduced in March to limit China’s use of its digital yuan, which could be used to bypass sanctions or compromise user’s personal information.
