US Housing Bill Barring Fed CBDC Becomes Law Without Trump Signature

A bipartisan US housing bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, has become law without President Donald Trump’s signature. The legislation includes a provision that bars the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC.

The Block reported on July 10 that the measure took effect despite Trump’s refusal to sign it. Under the US Constitution, a bill sent to the president automatically becomes law without a signature if the president neither signs nor vetoes it within 10 days.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would not sign the housing bill even though Congress had approved it. He said the move was a protest after the Senate failed to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voting in federal elections.

Despite Trump’s opposition, the bill won overwhelming support in Congress. It passed the Senate last month by 85-5 and cleared the House by 358-32 with bipartisan backing. Its main goal is to lower housing supply costs by promoting home construction and expanding financing options.

For the digital-asset industry, the bill’s significance lies in its outright ban on CBDC issuance. A CBDC is a digital form of fiat currency issued and regulated directly by a central bank. The Fed released a related report in 2022 and has since explored the possibility of introducing one. Senior officials, however, have remained skeptical and have maintained that they would not issue a CBDC without explicit congressional approval.

Blocking a CBDC has long been one of Republican lawmakers’ top priorities. Last year, a stablecoin bill known as the GENIUS Act also failed after Republicans opposed it because it did not include a blanket CBDC ban.

With the housing bill now in effect, the Fed’s inability to issue a CBDC has been formally written into law. The US digital-asset ecosystem is now set to develop around private-sector cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.