Representative Alex Mooney of West Virginia introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to close a “loophole” that the Federal Reserve Bank could exploit to create the exploratory Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program. H.R. 3712 defines CBDC as “a form of digital money or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the Federal Reserve.”

“Congress cannot give an inch when it comes to CBDCs,” said Mooney. “CBDCs would threaten the liberties of law-abiding Americans and are being used by authoritarian countries right now to crack down on dissent.”

H.R. 3712 would amend the Federal Reserve Act to deny the Federal Reserve the power to “establish, carry out, or approve a program intended to test the practicability of issuing a central bank digital currency, including by partnering or coordinating with a private sector entity to carry out such a program.”