The CBDC limit expires at the end of 2030, though there was little chance that a Fed digital currency would have been executed by then. There’s been limited appetite at the central bank, where its previous leadership — even before the arrival of Trump’s newest Fed chair, Kevin Warsh — had long said that such an effort would require backing from the White House and congressional authorization. There’s never been wide support for a CBDC in Congress.
But the idea — strongly opposed by the crypto industry for its potential to compete with privately issued stablecoins — has been pursued in other jurisdictions, such as Europe and China, and it became a popular political target for U.S. politicians. So Republicans managed to slip it into the unrelated housing legislation, after previously trying to include it in a range of bills including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Despite the overall housing bill’s popularity, Trump took an unexpected, last-minute stand against signing it, for which he’d previously scheduled a ceremony and had a stage erected. He declared that he wouldn’t sign anything until lawmakers approved a bill that would impose new proof-of-citizenship and identity checks on voters — an effort without sufficient current support to pass in Congress.
