Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the United States would not issue a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, as long as he remains the head of the organization.

The announcement came during a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. During the hearing, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) asked Powell to commit that the United States would never have a CBDC as long as he was the head of the Federal Reserve System.

“Yes,” Powell responded.

Moreno called Powell's one-word answer important, and said it would prevent the United States from “looking like China” in any way. Powell’s response runs counter to previous indications that the Federal Reserve was considering creating a CBDC.

“For far too long, the Federal Reserve has maintained a legal grey area around the possibility of a U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC,” said Cato Institute Policy Analyst Nicholas Anthony in an emailed statement. “Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's commitment to never issue a CBDC is a welcome change of pace. CBDCs present risks to financial freedom, privacy, and markets.”

Unlike Bitcoin, which is decentralized and operates without government control, a CBDC is a digital form of a country's official currency issued and regulated by its central bank. Backed by the government, CBDC is a digital equivalent of physical cash.

Critics have called CBDCs a surveillance tool because, unlike cash, they can be tracked. In the United States, CBDCs became a political issue when Republican lawmakers called for a ban on the government-issued digital currency.

During the 2024 Bitcoin Conference, then-candidate Donald Trump promised that if he were reelected, he would order the Treasury Department and other federal agencies to “cease and desist all steps necessary” to create a CBDC.

While the United States has debated a digital dollar, other countries, including Russia, Turkey, and Japan, have already begun experimenting with CBDCs. China notably began piloting its CBDC, the digital yuan, in 2020.

As more countries adopt digital currencies, Powell’s promise not to issue a CBDC underscores the United States’ divergence from global trends under President Trump.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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