Trump, in his New Hampshire speech, likened the creation of a central bank digital currency to a form of “government tyranny,” warning it would give the federal government the ability to “take your money.” The Biden Administration issued a 2022 executive order that ordered government agencies to develop policy recommendations and a potential framework for regulating digital assets. The process for developing a central bank digital currency could take years, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress last year, emphasizing that it has not made a decision on its feasibility and is still assessing the public’s appetite for such a system, which would require approval from Congress and the executive branch, Powell said.
In his New Hampshire speech, Trump credited his former opponent, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, for warning him of the dangers of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Ramaswamy, who dropped out of the race after the Iowa primary and endorsed Trump, is among the names being floated as Trump’s potential running mate pick, as he is all-but-certain to clinch the GOP nomination, potentially as soon as March. Ramaswamy has also said a central bank digital currency would create “a mechanism for the government to be able to wipe out your bank account, wipe out your dollars if you say or do something the government disapproves of” calling it “a threat to liberty in this country.”
