North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoes a bill banning CBDCs

The governor of North Carolina, Ray Cooper, vetoed House Bill 690, which sought to ban CBDCs. The bill gained near-unanimous ratification in the House and Senate. House Bill 690 proposed prohibiting payments in the state powered by central bank-issued digital currencies. 

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The bill was almost unanimously passed by the House and Senate, with votes coming from both Republicans and Democrats. Cooper’s veto, along with 3 other votes in the House, went against 109 votes. In the Senate, 39 votes supported the bill, while 5 vetoed it. The voting process took place in late June.

Cooper argued that House Bill 690 was premature and reactionary. He also mentioned that the legislature should have proposed additional funding to enhance cyber security and curb its associated threats.

“This legislation is premature, vague, and reactionary and proposes an end result on important monetary decisions that haven’t even been made yet… the legislature should have passed a budget to provide more funding for cybersecurity threats that actually exist now. Therefore, I veto the bill.”

– Governor Cooper

Governor Cooper slammed for vetoing House Bill 690

Many disagreed with Cooper’s views and opinions. Mitchell Askew, head analyst of Blockware Solutions and a native of North Carolina, criticized Cooper. Mitchell explained that Cooper’s veto did not represent the views of the majority of the people he represents. Askew also added that the governor’s veto was politically motivated and, therefore, not in the interests of North Carolina residents.

“He vetoed only because his opponent, Mark Robinson, is in favor of the bill. It’s clear who the pro-Bitcoin and pro-freedom candidate is here.”

-Mitchell Askew

The head of industry affairs at the Blockchain Association, Dan Spuller, also disagreed with Governor Cooper’s veto. Dan emphasized that the governor’s veto sent the wrong message to the Federal Reserve that North Carolina stands with CBDCs. Dan claimed that the veto should be overridden and digital asset policies should be left in the hands of the American people and not individual representatives.

“By vetoing this bill, the governor missed an opportunity to send a clear message to the Federal Reserve that North Carolina stands united against the creation of a CBDC. This veto must be overridden.”

-Dan Spuller 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell comments on CBDC adoption

The news comes as Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, announced on March 7th that the United States was not even close to developing or adopting a fully functional central bank digital currency. Jerome also added that the central bank lacked interest in developing a central bank digital currency.

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Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Jerome insisted that developing and adopting a CBDC would allow the government to survey all transactions like China does with its digital yuan. Jerome stated that if the Federal Reserve were to develop a CBDC, the digital currency would be done through the banking sector.

Cryptopolitan reporting by Collins J. Okoth