A U.S senator has introduced the “No Digital Dollar Act to prohibit the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve from interfering with Americans using paper currency” if a central bank digital currency is adopted. The bill further states: “No central bank digital currency shall be considered legal tender under section 16 5103 of title 31, United States Code.”

No Digital Dollar Act Introduced

U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) announced Thursday that he has introduced a bill titled “No Digital Dollar Act to prohibit the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve from interfering with Americans using paper currency if a digital currency is adopted and makes certain individuals can maintain privacy over their transactions using cash and coins.”

The bill will “amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from discontinuing Federal Reserve notes if a central bank digital currency is issued, and for other purposes,” according to the text of the bill.

Furthermore, “the Secretary of the Treasury may not discontinue minting and issuing coins under this section if a central bank digital currency is issued,” the bill details, adding:

No central bank digital currency shall be considered legal tender under section 16 5103 of title 31, United States Code.

Senator Lankford explained that residents in his state have expressed to him their concern that the Treasury “could phase out paper money and transition to a digital dollar.” He stressed that many Oklahomans “still prefer hard currency or at least the option of hard currency.”

The lawmaker added, “There are still questions, cyber concerns, and security risks for digital money,” emphasizing: “There is no reason we can’t continue to have paper and digital money in our nation and allow the American people to decide how to carry and spend their own money.”

Lankford stressed:

As technology advances, Americans should not have to worry about every transaction in their financial life being tracked or their money being deleted.

The lawmaker explained that “There is currently no federal statute that prohibits the Treasury from only having a digital currency.”

While the Federal Reserve is working on a digital dollar, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this week that a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) will take at least a couple of years. “We are looking at it very carefully. We are evaluating both the policy issues and the technology issues, and we are doing that with a very broad scope,” Powell said.

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