Last week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., threw his support behind U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., “Defending Americans from Authoritarian Digital Currencies Act.”
Rubio’s office offered some of the details on what the proposal would do.
“The bill would prohibit app platforms in the United States from using the Chinese Communist Party’s digital yuan (e-CNY) or hosting apps that enable transactions using e-CNY,” Rubio’s office noted.
“The Chinese Communist Party will use its digital currency to control and spy on anyone who uses it,” Cotton said. “We can’t give China that chance—the United States should reject China’s attempt to undermine our economy at its most basic level.”
“It makes no sense to tie ourselves to the digital currency of a genocidal regime that hates us and wants to replace us on the world stage,” said Rubio. “This is a major financial and surveillance risk that the United States cannot afford to make.”
U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., joined Rubio as a co-sponsor.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s digital yuan allows direct control and access to the financial lives of individuals. We cannot allow this authoritarian regime to use their state-controlled digital currency as an instrument to infiltrate our economy and the private information of American citizens,” Braun said.
Cotton’s bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.