Digital Dollar Project Responds to Trump’s New CBDC Campaign Plan

The Digital Dollar Project (DDP), a nonprofit focused on central bank digital currency (CBDC), responded in an interview to Donald Trump’s new anti-CBDC stance. With Trump as the front-runner to potentially clinch the Republican nomination for president, his new position offers a preview of what challenges lie ahead for those advocating a CBDC.

In the past, Trump also condemned the value of Bitcoin BTC BTC in a tweet when he was president, claiming that it had no value and was made up out of thin air. With Ron DeSantis also opposed to a CBDC as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, it seems clear that the Republicans are anti-CBDC in this presidential race. What is not clear, however, is whether Trump will find any redeeming qualities in any digital assets and what kind of impact that might have on the crypto industry as well.

Nor is Trump alone when it comes to a CBDC. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has sponsored a bill called the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act that has already advanced from the House Financial Services Committee to the floor. With the support of 75 members of Congress as co-sponsors of the bill and support from the American Banker’s Association, there is certainly agreement on prohibiting the Federal Reserve from using a CBDC as a tool for monetary policy.

During an interview with Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of the Digital Dollar Project, she said in response to Trump’s new stance. Lassiter said: “The US has historically led in exploration and experimentation … With a CBDC, there’s nothing else here that feels more scary and difficult. It’s complex and difficult to think about on a global scale.” According to its website, the purpose of the DOP was to inform policymakers about both the benefits as well as the risks of a CBDC.

One of those risks was privacy, which Lassiter said has been the top priority of the organization since the DDP began in January 2020. Lassiter says she shares the concerns many critics of CBDC have about privacy and believes we are decades away from solving the issues of privacy in a digital dollar.

The DDP recently began looking for more experts to join its Advisory Group, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Lassiter. Currently, the DDP has 62 expert advisors who are helping to explore all aspects of a CBDC and what it could mean from a policy perspective, as well as working on actual pilots for a future CBDC.

As a neutral, nonpartisan project, the DDP’s biggest challenge appears to be a sharp partisan divide where Republican leaders in Congress and presidential hopefuls on the campaign trail are vowing to stop a CBDC at all costs. Lassiter is probably going to need all her experts to back her up, as the potential for Trump to become the next president could put any possibility of a CBDC or digital dollar on hold… for decades, too.

Note: This article has been updated to reflect 75 co-sponsors of the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. An earlier version of this story said 60 co-sponsors.