US Senate Passes Housing Bill With Four-Year Fed CBDC Ban - Decrypt

US Senate Passes Housing Bill With Four-Year Fed CBDC Ban

A U.S. freeze on a government-run digital dollar is suddenly close to becoming law, carried there by an unrelated housing bill.

The U.S. Senate on Monday night passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in an 85-5 vote, a bipartisan package meant to boost housing supply and stop large investors from snapping up single-family homes. Tucked away in the bill is a provision that would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency through the end of 2030.

The measure says the Fed "may not issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset that is substantially similar" to one, "directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary." Even after the ban lapses in 2030, the central bank would need explicit authorization from Congress to pursue a digital dollar.

The language carves out private stablecoins, exempting any "dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private," and leaving issuers like Circle and Tether, now governed by last year's GENIUS Act , untouched.

There is no active federal effort to build a CBDC. The Fed never moved past the research stage, and both Chair Kevin Warsh and President Donald Trump have publicly opposed a digital dollar, which conservative critics cast as a financial-surveillance tool. Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 directing his administration not to pursue one.

Senators framed the vote as a rare bipartisan win, with Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC), who wrote the bill with Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), telling the floor that "housing prices are too darn high and housing supply is too low."

Ahead of the bill’s passage, Warren said the result proved "that bipartisan legislation doesn't have to be the weakest, most milquetoast agreement," and has called it the most significant housing package in three decades, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it "shows Americans how we should govern."

The floor speeches focused on housing supply and corporate landlords, rather than the digital-dollar ban traveling with the bill.

That ban was attached as a political sweetener to win over House Republicans and hurry the package along. The Senate first added it in March , passing that version 89-10, and negotiators struck a deal last week on reconciled text after months of wrangling with the House.

Some House conservatives have argued the freeze should be permanent rather than temporary, with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) saying "CBDCs are bad for everyone." House leaders are nonetheless expected to take up the bill quickly, possibly as soon as Tuesday, before it reaches Trump's desk.

The U.S. retreat from a CBDC flies in the face of global trends. The European Central Bank is preparing a digital euro , with a pilot expected next year and a full launch targeted for 2029, and China has been expanding cross-border use of its e-CNY, signing up 26 financial institutions this month , per Reuters . Three countries have launched a CBDC and dozens more are piloting or developing one, according to the Atlantic Council .

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