Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has explained why she voted against a bill that would regulate some cryptocurrencies.
She wrote in a post on social media platform X that the bill, called the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS, Act, regulates stablecoins and “provides for the backdoor Centralized Bank Digital Currency [CBDC].”
It’s the first major cryptocurrency legislation passed by Congress. Stablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, with the goal of the legislation being to help legitimize the digital assets.
“The Federal Reserve has been planning a CBDC for years and this will open the door to move you to a cashless society and into digital currency that can be weaponized against you by an authoritarian government controlling your ability to buy and sell,” Greene wrote on Friday. “Do you actually trust your government to never do that to you? I don’t.”
The Federal Reserve says in a webpage of frequently asked questions about CBDCs that it would only proceed with issuing one if an authorizing law was enacted. The Fed issued a paper in 2022 on potential benefits and risks of a CBDC but notes in the webpage the essay is “not intended to advance any specific policy outcome.”
Greene was asked in an email Friday to explain how the GENIUS Act “provides for the backdoor,” but she did not respond.
Those in the cryptocurrency industry say they hope the bills will help their push for legitimacy and for increasing consumer trust.
President Donald Trump signed the bill, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives this past week, into law on Friday.
“Congratulations to our GREAT REPUBLICANS for being able to accomplish so much, a record, in so short a period of time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “All the Democrats do is complain and criticize, AND GET NOTHING DONE. They are a ‘Party of the Past!’ ”
Eighteen Democrats in the Senate and 102 in the House voted for the bill. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who voted for the act, said in a statement Thursday that it offers “robust guidelines” for consumers in the country.
“It offers an important starting point for protecting financial security and our broader economy, closing loopholes on foreign-issued stablecoins that pose risks to national security, strengthening federal oversight over stablecoin issuers, and expanding consumer protections in the event of a stablecoin collapse,” Booker said.
Other Democrats, like Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said the bill presents conflict-of-interest risks and lacks critical provisions.
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