US Senate Passes Bill to Block Fed From Issuing a Retail CBDC

The US Senate passed a bill on Thursday to bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency, the strongest legislative signal yet that a retail digital dollar will not launch under this Congress.

The bill now heads to the House, where it faces a less certain path. Even if signed into law, the legislation would constrain the Fed's ability to pilot or research a direct-to-consumer CBDC, while leaving wholesale settlement use cases and stablecoin oversight as separate policy tracks.

Why it matters

A retail Fed CBDC has been the most-watched monetary-policy wildcard in crypto for two cycles. Lawmakers aligned with the administration have framed the ban as a privacy and financial-surveillance issue; banking groups largely supported the move, while crypto policy advocates split between calling it a win for financial freedom and a missed chance to modernise dollar rails.

Market impact

Stablecoin issuers and dollar-backed token projects are the read-through winners, since the bill narrows the path by which the Fed itself could compete with private digital dollar offerings. Watch the House timeline and any conference-committee changes that could narrow or broaden the scope before final passage.