A Senate rewrite of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would temporarily bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)
Legislation intended to ease zoning restrictions, expand financing for modular housing, and curb institutional ownership of single-family homes now includes a provision which would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail central bank digital currency until the end of the decade.
The Senate legislative text of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which cleared the Senate Banking Committee in February with bipartisan backing, contains a new ‘Title X — Central Bank Digital Currency’.
The title amends the Federal Reserve Act to introduce a temporary ban on issuing a CBDC that is “widely available to the general public”. The prohibition would expire on 31 December 2030.
The House-passed version of the bill does not include any digital currency language, indicating that the CBDC provision was added as part of the Senate substitute rather than forming part of the original housing bill.
What the text says
The Senate draft defines a “central bank digital currency” as a digital asset denominated in US dollars, is US currency, is a direct liability of the Federal Reserve System, and is widely available to the general public.
“Except as provided in subsection (c), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or a Federal Reserve Bank may not issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset that is substantially similar to a central bank digital currency directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary.”
An exception clarifies that the restriction does not apply to “any dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private, and fully preserves the privacy protections of United States coins and physical currency.”
The definition section references the GENIUS Act for the meaning of “digital asset”, linking the measure to wider congressional work on digital asset regulation.
A retail focus
The text centres on a CBDC “widely available to the general public”, suggesting the ban is directed at a retail instrument rather than wholesale settlement mechanisms used between financial institutions.
By covering issuance “directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary”, the draft seeks to preclude both direct Federal Reserve accounts for consumers and intermediary distribution models routed through banks.
The Federal Reserve has not committed to issuing a retail CBDC and has previously said it would require explicit authorisation from Congress before doing so. Nonetheless, retail digital dollar proposals have become politically contentious in recent sessions, with concerns raised about privacy and the scope of central bank involvement in retail payments.
Legislative outlook
The inclusion of the CBDC provision in the Senate substitute means it is not yet aligned with the House text. If the bill advances to a full Senate vote and subsequently to negotiations with the House, the digital currency language would be subject to agreement between the two chambers.
Many Republicans, including Trump himself, have publicly opposed a digital dollar, citing concerns over government surveillance and financial privacy. These objections culminated in the introduction of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act, which was incorporated in the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) on 16 July 2025.
The Trump administration asserts CBDCs threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the US. Trump has made his disdain for CBDCs clear on several occasions over the past couple of years.
In an interview with FOX in 2024, nine months before his election victory in November, the outspoken Trump said: “If I am the president, on day one, we will nix central bank digital currency. Done. Dead. Not happening in this country.”
Trump has barred any federal agency from moving to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs either in the US or abroad. Any plans to create a CBDC in the US ‘shall be immediately terminated’, he added.
