U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate last week that would prohibit money services businesses from engaging in any transaction that involves a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the People’s Republic of China.
Currently, federally licensed money services business, or MSBs, which include currency dealers, exchangers, and the U.S. Postal Service, are not engaging in transactions involving Chinaʻs CBDC, the digital Yuan. But Scottʻs bill, the Chinese CBDC Prohibition Act, would prohibit it outright.
“The digital Yuan is just another tool used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on its people and all those who use it. It is an obvious power grab and an attempt to increase communist-state-control over people’s personal finances. Secretary Xi and his thugs have no business playing big brother to American citizens and how they spend their money. That is why I am fighting to prevent this problem from ever becoming someone’s reality. We must stand up against the CCP’s obvious spy tactics and pass the Chinese CBDC Prohibition Act today,” Scott said.
The bill was cosponsored in the senate by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).
A companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO).
“The Chinese Communist Party uses the digital yuan to track in real time every transaction made with the currency. It is one of the many ways the CCP maintains its stranglehold on the Chinese people. We must establish clear barriers to prevent the CCP from monitoring the transactions and collecting the financial data of American consumers and businesses. This bill is a necessary step in building those barriers,” Luetkemeyer said.