US on the verge of CBDC ban until 2030 as housing bill heads to Trump

Looks like it's just up to Trump to sign this bill that stops the US from having CBDCs. He’s been pretty anti-CBDC in the past, so I think he’s gonna go for it. But honestly, I’m not thrilled about a ban that’s only 4 years. It should be way longer. I hope other nations realize that they don’t really need a CBDC either.

What I’ve always wondered is whether a CBDC is actually the solution to any major problem, or if it’s a solution looking for a problem. Most of us already use digital money every day. We send bank transfers, use debit cards, mobile apps, online banking, and all sorts of electronic payment systems. So when governments talk about CBDCs, I sometimes wonder what practical benefit the average person is supposed to gain that they don’t already have. That is why a lot of the debate seems to revolve around control rather than utility. Governments often talk about efficiency and financial inclusion, while critics worry about privacy, surveillance, and the possibility of greater control over how people use their money. The real question is what can a CBDC realistically do that existing payment systems cannot? Until there is a convincing answer to that, it’s not surprising that many people remain skeptical.

What I think is that the central bank digital currencies are created just to do the work of fiat, I mean there is nothing that the CBDC will do that local currencies online will not be able to do. I think country like China that has CBDC has it to try to compete with the dollar but it is not working. They will say the unbank people can use it, but if someone is not having bank account, there is very high chance that such people will also not use CBDC.

The last administration led by Joe Biden signed an Executive Order, signaling the Development of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency. This executive order places significant urgency on the potential designs and deployment options of a US CBDC. The present administration has not been a fan of CBDC, and I am glad they placed a four-year ban. The ban can always be extended after the four years has elapsed. If this bill is signed, it will have a ripple effect on other countries. Some countries, like South Korea, that are carrying out a pilot test of their CBDC project, might begin to reconsider their stance, since the US is seen as the role model of any Western economy.

The idea of the CBDC was born out of a need to rival Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At its peak in 2023, central banks just needed something that would be like Bitcoin, but they would be the ones to own and control it. The problem they couldn't go ahead with it because they criticised Bitcoin for what it is, so much, but they couldn't come up with a better version. All the proposals of the CBDC were just an inferior version of Bitcoin and just another fiat currency in digital form. I see no need for a country to have the same variation of fiat currency but call it "difital currency". Countries that launched their own version of CBCD can see how badly it did. There is no utility. Everything you can use it for, the country's local currency can also do it, so there was no need. I don't see the US having a CBCD even after 2030. Anyone with a working brain could see that it is totally unnecessary for countries to have it when they already have a local currency.

Since US has fully embraced crypto, Trump sees no need for CBDC because he sees that's useless to the country since it's same with the local fiat currency. I think CBDC will lead to more spending of funds by the government to maintain it. My country created their own CBDC, but nobody used it and it was later forgotten about. Crypto is here why the copy cat. Four years ban isn't much and the next US president will decide to uplift the ban or extend the ban.

Maybe this would have been a case study or the reason people can know if CBDCs should not be made if people are seeing no reasons to adopt it, but what happened in your country is a bit different because the central bank of your country that time against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, to the point the central bank said bitcoin is linked to illicit activities and criminality, while most people that can embrace the CBDC are bitcoin and other crypto users. Or maybe CBDCs will just be a failure in most countries because fiat offer what it is offering.

But seriously, why were CBDCs even created in the first place? All they thought of was to replace cryptocurrency and found out CBDCs were dead on arrival. When there are already many digital payment systems. Nigeria is on the list of countries that created this CBDC. As I am typing this now, I haven't seen anybody make a transaction with that crab. CBDCs were created with the aim of control, and that wasn't even achieved. Temporarily banning it is a waste of time. It should be banned permanently. With this temporary ban, another administration can come in and unban it.