Treasury: No U.S. CBDC, push to bring crypto onshore

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday that the administration will not pursue a U.S. central bank digital currency and urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act to bring digital asset activity onshore.

Bessent said a CBDC would enable tracking of transactions and therefore is unacceptable. “There will be no central bank digital currency, which I think would be the first step toward tracking, so we have taken that off the table,” he told reporters, and added the most important objective is to “make digital assets come into the United States.”

Bessent noted bipartisan progress on stablecoin rules, saying GENIUS stablecoin legislation has passed and the Clarity Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee earlier this month. The Clarity Act would set standards for stablecoins and other digital-asset activity; disagreements over stablecoin reward programs and ethics language have delayed the bill.

Lawmakers and analysts say the Clarity Act still faces hurdles before it can become law. Jaret Seiberg, managing director at TD Cowen's Washington Research Group, wrote the bill would likely need conflicts-of-interest standards applying to the U.S. president to gain enough Democratic support.

President Trump posted that his administration will codify a “future-proof” market structure for digital assets. Administration officials say the plan aims to protect investors and attract crypto businesses to U.S. markets.

Bessent framed onshoring as a way to reduce offshore abuses and bring activity under U.S. rules. He urged the House and Senate to act on the Clarity Act so regulators can set standards for issuers, consumer protections and market practices.