Former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump have declared his opposition to the idea of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States. He made the announcement during a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Sunday, Jan. 17.
Trump:
I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency
Trump, who is seeking to regain the White House after losing the 2020 election, said he was making “another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny.”
“I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” he said, eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd. He then added, “I didn’t know you know so much … New Hampshire, very smart people,” before explaining his reasoning:
“Such a currency would give a federal government, our federal government, the absolute control over your money […] they could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone. This would be a dangerous threat to freedom, and I will stop it from coming to America,” he said.
A CBDC is a digital form of a country’s fiat currency that is issued and regulated by its central bank. Several countries, such as China, Sweden, and the Bahamas, have already launched or piloted their own CBDCs, while others, such as the European Union, Japan, and Canada, are exploring the possibility.
The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, has been studying the potential benefits and risks of a CBDC, but has not made any decision on whether to issue one. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that the Fed is “carefully monitoring” the developments of CBDCs around the world, but that the U.S. does not need to rush to adopt one.
CBDC Divide GOP, Crypto Gains Momentum
Trump is not the only presidential hopeful who has expressed his opposition to CBDCs. In 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who was also running for the Republican nomination, vowed to “nix” CBDCs on his first day as president.
However, DeSantis failed to win the Iowa caucus, the first major contest in the presidential primary, on Jan. 15. He came in second behind Trump, who secured more than 50% of the vote. DeSantis has been trailing Trump by double digits in most national polls since he entered the race.
Another former rival of Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, who proposed a crypto-friendly policy agenda, dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucus, where he received about 8% of the vote. He has since endorsed Trump.
Meanwhile, some experts have argued that the crypto movement could play a key role in the 2024 presidential election. John Reed Stark, a former SEC enforcer, said on Jan. 17 that “every presidential contender should immediately appoint an internal Crypto Czar to serve as the crypto-focal point and crypto-spokesperson for that candidate.”
In addition, on Nov 5, 2024, the United States will conduct the presidential election. Expectations are high that Trump will secure the Republican nomination, while the Democratic field remains unpredictable.
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