At a campaign speech delivered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, former US President and Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump made a bold statement regarding the future of digital currencies. According to a report by The Crypto Basic on January 18, 2024, Trump declared that, if elected in 2024, he would prohibit the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
“As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” Trump asserted. He argued that CBDCs would grant the government excessive control over people’s money, enabling potential confiscation or devaluation without the public’s consent. “They [the government] could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone,” he added.
Trump framed his stance as a commitment to protecting Americans from government overreach and upholding constitutional rights. He expressed concern that a CBDC could threaten the freedom and sovereignty of the American people while undermining the US dollar’s role as the global reserve currency. Trump warned that a central bank digital currency would have severe consequences for the American economy, national security, and way of life, making the country dependent on bureaucratic decisions and vulnerable to cyberattacks, inflation, and foreign interference.
More Read
This position sharply contrasts with that of his Democratic rival, current US President Joe Biden, who has expressed support for the development of a CBDC by the Federal Reserve. Biden sees it as a means to enhance financial inclusion, innovation, and efficiency. The President has appointed pro-CBDC officials, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chair Jerome Powell, to key positions in his administration.
A recent report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) notes that over 80% of the world’s central banks are exploring or developing CBDCs. Some countries, including China, the Bahamas, and Sweden, have already launched or piloted their own CBDCs. Others, such as the European Union, Japan, and Canada, are in various stages of research or testing on the feasibility of CBDCs. CBDCs represent digital versions of national fiat currencies issued and regulated by central banks.
