Congress blocks Federal Reserve from issuing digital currency to citizens
H.R. 1430 — No CBDC Act · Filed by Andrew Ogles (R-TN) · Introduced Feb 18, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, and related agencies from creating, issuing, or distributing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to individuals or businesses. It also bars the Federal Reserve from holding or using government-issued digital currencies on its balance sheet or as part of its monetary policy operations.
Why we flagged it
The bill is a direct statutory prohibition on a specific Federal Reserve power—the issuance of central bank digital currency. It is not a tax measure, appropriation, or regulatory carve-out, but rather a constraint on monetary policy authority.
What the text implies
- Blocks not only direct CBDC issuance but also indirect distribution through custodial intermediaries and digital currency intermediaries, closing potential workarounds.
- Prevents Federal Reserve from holding government-issued digital currencies as assets, which could limit the Fed's ability to participate in future interbank digital settlement systems.
- Does not prohibit private sector digital currencies or stablecoins, leaving payment system innovation to private firms and potentially entrenching existing payment networks (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal).
- Forecloses a potential tool for financial inclusion: a government digital currency could provide unbanked and underbanked populations direct access to the payment system without relying on private banks.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill protects citizens from potential government surveillance and control over digital payments by blocking mandatory CBDC issuance, a genuine privacy and financial autonomy benefit. However, it also forecloses a potential public-interest use case: a government digital currency could reduce reliance on private payment networks, lower transaction costs for unbanked populations, or provide a resilient backup payment system during financial crises—benefits the bill eliminates.
Who stands to gain
- payment processors (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Square)
- commercial banks (reduced competition from government digital payment option)
- private stablecoin issuers
Named in the bill
Federal Reserve, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Reserve banks, U.S. Treasury Department, Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act, Section 2A of the Federal Reserve Act
Where it stands
- Feb 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,133 characters) on Aug 29, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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