US Senator: Digital ID and CBDC Would Deprive Americans of Financial Freedom and Privacy

According to Odaily, U.S. Senator Warren Davidson posted on X stating that the GENIUS Act, which centers on stablecoins, could deprive Americans of financial freedom and privacy, and may have the opposite of its intended effect. He warned that the U.S. is moving toward a licensed and tightly monitored financial system, and believes that recent cryptocurrency legislation undermines the industry's original commitment to permissionless and private money. Warren Davidson pointed out that the design of the GENIUS Act facilitates the implementation of a wholesale version of the U.S. dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC), which could be used for surveillance, coercion, and control. He stated that the introduction of a digital ID system would force Americans to obtain government permission to use their own funds, and called for a rejection of the globalist surveillance state and a return to the original promise of bitcoin as a permissionless, peer-to-peer payment system. Another U.S. Senator, Marjorie Taylor Greene, agreed with this view and said she voted against the GENIUS Act, arguing that the bill hands power over to banks while opening a "backdoor" for CBDC. Although both representatives are more positive about the CLARITY Act's potential to protect self-custody, Warren Davidson believes that under the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act would have limited impact on improving individual freedoms. (Cointelegraph)