North Carolina passes anti-CBDC bill, overrides governor's veto

The North Carolina General Assembly has passed a bill that prohibits the state’s participation in Federal Reserve branch testing of a central bank digital currency .

On Monday, the Senate voted 27-17 in favor of the House Bill 690 to override Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto . The bill bans payments to the state using a CBDC and prohibits state participation in CBDC testing.

Cooper said in a July statement on his veto that the House Bill 690 was “premature, vague, and reactionary.” He said at the time that “efforts are being made at the federal level to ensure standards and safeguards are in place to protect consumers, investors and businesses that may want to make monetary transactions in digital assets and North Carolina should wait to see how they work before taking action."

Dan Spuller, head of industry affairs of Blockchain Association, wrote on X on Monday that the bill “should have never been vetoed,” and that Cooper “blew an opportunity to send a strong message to the Federal Reserve that [North Carolina] stands united against CBDCs.”

The North Carolina’s anti-CBDC bill comes after the U.S. House in May passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act , a Republican-led bill blocking a CBDC. The bill intends to block the Fed from issuing a CBDC to individuals.

The Federal Reserve has been exploring the possibility of CBDC issuance and has released a report examining its pros and cons. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that the Fed would not issue a CBDC without congressional approval — and that, if the central bank was to adopt a CBDC, it would be done through the banking system.