U.S. House considers merging CBDC issuance ban provision into market structure bill

The U.S. House is discussing a plan to merge a provision that would prohibit the Federal Reserve (Fed) from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) into a digital asset market-clarifying bill.

On the 16th (local time), Cointelegraph reported that the House Rules Committee is considering adding the 'Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act,' passed in July, to the market-clarifying bill. The final bill will be forwarded to the Senate, but it is unclear how it will relate to the 'Responsible Financial Innovation Act' that the Senate is pursuing separately.

Republicans previously tried to include a CBDC ban provision during the vote on the stablecoin bill, the 'Genius Act,' but that effort failed. This merger also appears to require bipartisan agreement.

Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming predicted that the Senate Banking Committee would take up the market structure bill by the end of September so that President Donald Trump could sign it by 2026. However, Democrats have raised concerns about the Trump family's virtual asset (cryptocurrency) business and proposed their own framework, making future negotiations inevitable.