S1296 would protect cryptocurrency by preventing state and local government from imposing undue or discriminatory regulations against blockchain and other forms of distributed ledger technology.
The Senate failed to pass S1296 on April 2, 2024, by a vote of 17 to 18. We have assigned pluses to the ayes because this bill would protect against efforts to ban free-market-based cryptocurrencies, which depend on a decentralized financial transaction network. As such, it acts as an important barrier to an exclusively government-controlled Central Bank Digital Currency. A CBDC would be an unconstitutional and intolerable expansion of tyranny under the Federal Reserve—presenting a significant danger to Americans’ civil liberties by decimating personal privacy and allowing for a full-fledged surveillance state.