U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reaffirmed that the Trump administration will not support a CBDC while urging lawmakers to advance legislation designed to bring digital asset activity under a clearer regulatory framework.
Summary
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration will not allow a U.S. central bank digital currency and wants digital asset activity brought onshore.
- Bessent urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, arguing that clear rules are needed as the digital asset industry continues to grow.
- Republican lawmakers are also pushing legislation and amendments that would permanently block the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC.
According to remarks delivered during a White House press briefing on Thursday, Bessent said a U.S. CBDC is “off the table” and argued that the administration’s priority is encouraging digital asset businesses and innovation to operate within the United States.
“This administration has been very clear, there will be no central bank digital currency, which I think would be the first step toward tracking, so we have taken that off the table. The most important thing we could do is to make digital assets come into the United States.” – Scott Bessent.
Bessent also pointed to recent progress in Congress, noting that the GENIUS stablecoin bill secured bipartisan backing and that the CLARITY Act is continuing to move through the legislative process.
“When you look at digital assets, all the nonsense that happens, all the things you read about, that’s because it’s the wild, wild west offshore, so we have to bring it onshore. So I would encourage the House and the Senate to get Clarity done.”
CBDC opposition remains a focus in Washington
The Treasury Secretary’s comments come as Republican lawmakers continue to push back against the prospect of a government-issued digital dollar.
Earlier this month, Congressman Mike Flood said House Republicans revised the Senate version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to remove a provision that would have allowed restrictions on a CBDC to expire in 2030. Flood argued the change eliminates what he described as a potential pathway for a future digital dollar rollout.
Representative Warren Davidson has also criticized the original sunset clause. In previous remarks, Davidson said the 2030 deadline could serve as a development period for a future CBDC, while House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has continued promoting the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, legislation that would permanently prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency.
Opposition to CBDCs among Republican lawmakers has largely centered on concerns that government-issued digital money could enable transaction monitoring and weaken financial privacy protections.
Bessent has expressed similar views before. During his Treasury nomination hearing in January 2025, he said he saw “no reason” for the United States to pursue a CBDC and argued such systems were more relevant to countries with limited investment alternatives.
CLARITY Act still faces hurdles
While Bessent has pressed lawmakers to move the CLARITY Act forward, analysts continue to view its path through Congress as uncertain.
Last month, Bessent wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal that Congress should act quickly because Senate floor time is limited. He argued that the digital asset sector had grown into a $3 trillion market and said nearly one in six Americans now own digital assets.
The legislation has faced repeated delays as banking groups and crypto industry participants debated whether stablecoin issuers should be allowed to offer yield-bearing products.
President Donald Trump has also continued backing the legislation. In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said his administration intends to establish a “future-proof” digital asset market structure that cannot be reversed by what he called “crypto haters.”
Congress is currently weighing several digital asset measures at once, with debate over market structure rules, stablecoin oversight, and CBDC restrictions increasingly becoming part of the same policy discussion.
