The latest version of the legislation included limiting the Federal Reserve from utilizing the U.S. state as a potential testing ground for its own CBDC pilot. 

The House of Representatives for North Carolina has unanimously transferred legislation aimed at prohibiting payments to the U.S. state utilizing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC.

In a May 3 vote, 118 members of the state’s legislative body agreed to pass House Bill 690, with solely two representatives missing and none voting against the bill. The latest version of the legislation aimed to prohibit individualities from utilizing CBDCs for any payments to the state, as well as bar the Federal Reserve from utilizing North Carolina as a potential testing ground for its own CBDC pilot.

North Carolina lawmakers presented the bill to the House in April, where it stayed in committee before readings and a full vote. The legislation offered to amend statutes to necessitate “ no State agency nor the General Court of Justice ” to accept payments utilizing CBDCs or participate in Fed testing of a digital dollar.

The legislative push against CBDCs seems to be getting moreover politically relevant ahead of the 2024 elections in the United States. In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — expected by numerous to throw his hat into the ring for the U.S. presidential race — called for a CBDC ban in the country, claiming the technology was all about “ surveilling Americans and controlling the behavior of Americans. ”

Related: CBDCs could be ‘easily weaponized’ to spy on US citizens: Congressman

At the federal position, Representative Tom Emmer and Senator Ted Cruz have both presented separate bills aimed at restricting the Fed’s authority over CBDCs or offering an outright ban. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another U.S. presidential hopeful, has claimed that CBDCs could “ grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny. ”

The North Carolina bill will shift to the Senate, where it must pass before being signed into law or vetoed by Governor Roy Cooper. The Board of Commissioners for North Carolina’s Buncombe County similarly approved a one-year moratorium on crypto mining on May 2.

(TURNER WRIGHT, Cointelegraph, 2023)