Governors desk awaits North Carolinas bill banning CBDCs

North Carolina’s General Assembly approved a bill on Wednesday that prohibits the state government from using or accepting a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Federal Reserve.
House Bill 690 will now be sent to Governor Roy Cooper for his approval after the bill was passed by a 109-4 vote in the state’s House on June 26, a day after the Senate passed it with a 39-5 vote.
If Governor Cooper signs the bill into law, it will immediately prohibit the state’s agencies and courts from accepting payment using central bank digital currency and from participating in CBDC tests by any Federal Reserve branch.
The passage of the bill in North Carolina comes at the same time as Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a similar bill that banned the state’s government from accepting or participating in a CBDC, which also included a provision for the right to self-custody crypto.
The wide support for the North Carolina bill means that if Governor Cooper decides to veto it, it could easily be overridden as it has support from over three-fifths of lawmakers in both chambers. Cooper’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his plan for the bill.
In March, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated at a federal Senate Banking Committee hearing that the U.S. was not close to recommending or adopting a central bank digital currency in any form.
Despite this, the U.S. House approved a bill last month to ban the Fed from offering a CBDC, which is now headed to the Senate.
A poll by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on June 14 found that 94% of surveyed central banks are exploring a CBDC, with the organization noting a sharp uptick in wholesale CBDC experiments and pilots. The BIS also stated that in the next six years, a central bank is more likely to issue a wholesale CBDC than a retail CBDC, which is for everyday users. However, it added that many CBDC features are still undecided.