Former President Donald Trump has promised to ban the creation of a central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
Trump told the crowd in the New England state that if re-elected US President this year he would never allow the creation of a CBDC.
This is a subject that has attracted a lot of comments from presidential candidates, despite there being no plans in place to carry it out.
Trump’s rival for the Republican nomination, Ron DeSantis, has taken a similar stance on the topic, he said: “If I am the president, on day one, we will nix central bank digital currency. Done. Dead. Not happening in this country.”
The Federal Reserve has been investigating the pros and cons of a digital dollar for several years, publishing a discussion paper on the issue in January 2022. The idea of creating a CBDC was researched in 2022 by The Federal Reserve, which resulted in the organisation remaining noncommittal on the idea.
There are discussions ongoing around the world, not just in the US. For example, South Korea has announced it will launch its native CBDC to up to 100,000 selected citizens this year.
Whereas in the UK politicians believe that the ‘digital pound will be needed in the future’. The Bank of England has been actively probing the possibility of a launch.
North of the US border in Canada, Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Party leader, has also said he would ban the country’s central bank from issuing a CBDC if his party wins the upcoming general election.
Back in the US, Trump has said that a CBDC would be a dangerous threat to freedom, which he will stop from coming to America.
Trump continued : “Such a currency would give a federal government, our federal government, absolute control over your money. They could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone.”
