United States CBDC Tracker

The United States is in the pilot phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) development. Over the years, the Federal Reserve has conducted multiple pilots, experiments, and studies. President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14067 in 2022 to place “the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.” However, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14178 in 2025 to stop the U.S. government from creating or promoting a CBDC (sometimes called a digital dollar or FedCoin). Shortly after that, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell committed to never issuing a CBDC so long as he is leading the central bank.

Current human rights and civil liberties concerns in the United States include sweeping financial surveillance and civil asset forfeiture. For example, under the law, banks and other financial institutions were required to file over 26 million reports to the government on customer activity in 2022.

CBDC History and Development

In September 2017, the Federal Reserve briefly mentioned the idea of creating what might be considered a CBDC in a report on faster payments. The Federal Reserve wrote that it “will consider other enhancements to its existing services and will continue to monitor, study and solicit input from stakeholders to understand the implications of new payment technologies and models, including distributed ledger technologies and digital currencies, that can facilitate a safe and efficient U.S. payment system."

Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard spoke about CBDCs in May 2018 saying, “Given some of the inherent issues and challenges that cryptocurrencies pose for investor and consumer protection and the prevention of money laundering, some have advocated that central banks should create their own digital forms of currency as more stable and reliable alternatives to cryptocurrencies.” However, Brainard was careful to note that “Even though central bank digital currencies may at first glance appear to address a number of challenges associated with the current crop of cryptocurrencies, this appeal may not withstand closer scrutiny.”

In October 2019, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard warned that a CBDC “could conceivably require the central bank to keep a running record of all payment data using the digital currency—a stark difference from cash, for instance.” She went on to also express concerns about the impact on monetary policy, commercial banks, and central bank operations.

Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard spoke in February 2020, saying, “Given the dollar's important role, it is essential that we remain on the frontier of research and policy development regarding CBDC.” However, she also mentioned concerns about privacy and financial stability.

In August 2020, the Federal Reserve Board announced that the “Federal Reserve Board's Technology Lab (TechLab) is expanding experimentation with technologies relevant to digital currencies and other payment innovations.” At the same time, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard gave an update on CBDCs. Brainard said, “We are participating in the CBDC coalition of central banks. … Sharing lessons learned, jointly conducting experiments, and bringing diverse expertise to bear helps us make progress in developing potential approaches to address challenging hurdles, such as threats to cybersecurity, counterfeiting and fraud, and anti-money laundering, to name a few, as well as on shared goals, such as increasing the ease and efficiency of cross-border transactions.”

Since then, the Federal Reserve has published multiple studies on CBDCs. Elsewhere, under the name “Project Hamilton,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston announced that it would build and test a “hypothetical central bank digital currency for wide-scale, general purpose use.” The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, under the name “Project Cedar,” also started an initiative to research wholesale CBDC designs. In “Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York collaborated with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to “investigate how wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs) could improve the efficiency of cross-border wholesale payments involving multiple currencies.” The Federal Reserve Bank of New York later announced that it too would engage in a proof-of-concept project. Therefore, the United States is considered to be in the pilot phase.

In May 2021, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard said that the “Federal Reserve is stepping up its research and public engagement on CBDCs.” Brainard framed the decision around the growing role of cryptocurrencies, the digitalization of modern life, the rise of foreign CBDCs, and “concerns about financial exclusion.” Taking a different tone from past statements, she said that CBDCs can reduce counterparty risk, reduce financial stability risks, eliminate operational inefficiencies, and improve competition.

In an August 2021 speech, Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller gave a speech titled “CBDC: A Solution in Search of a Problem?” He quickly noted that he is “highly skeptical” of the idea that there is a “compelling need” for the Federal Reserve to create a CBDC. He said, “After careful consideration, I am not convinced as of yet that a CBDC would solve any existing problem that is not being addressed more promptly and efficiently by other initiatives.”

The Federal Reserve published a CBDC discussion paper in January 2022. The paper proposed a CBDC that would be “privacy-protected, intermediated, widely transferable, and identify-verified.” Reflecting on the paper in February 2022, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard said the Federal Reserve continues to think “critically about whether there is a role for a potential U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the digital payment landscape of the future and about its potential properties, costs, and benefits.”

In March of 2022, President Biden issued Executive Order 14067 to place “the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.”

Testifying before Congress in May 2022, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard said, "No decision has been made about whether a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be a part of that future, but it is important to undertake the necessary work to inform any such decision and to be ready to move forward should the need arise." She went on to warn that the rise of cryptocurrency is a reason to launch a CBDC much like how the Federal Reserve was originally created to take control of money.

In September 2022, the White House said that the reports issued under Executive Order 14067 “encourage the Federal Reserve to continue its ongoing CBDC research, experimentation, and evaluation and call for the creation of a Treasury‐led interagency working group to support the Federal Reserve’s efforts.” The Biden administration also announced that it had “developed policy objectives for a US CBDC, which reflect the federal government’s priorities.” Going further, the Biden administration published a technical evaluation for a potential US CBDC.

In November 2022, Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller delivered a speech titled, “Demystifying Central Bank Digital Currency.” During the speech, Waller explained the accounting that would take place with a CBDC. In the end, he ultimately echoed is 2021 speech saying that CBDCs remain a solution in search of a problem.

The Federal Reserve has also been unclear about its authority to issue a CBDC. In March 2023, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve would need congressional authority to issue a retail CBDC, but he was careful to note that it is a different story when it comes to other forms of CBDCs. This statement is concerning because the Federal Reserve built its proposal on the idea of an intermediated CBDC, which blurs the lines between a retail and wholesale CBDC.

Also in March 2023, Department of the Treasury official Nellie Liang explained that the Treasury launched an interagency working group “to advance work on CBDC.” The working group would include officials from the Treasury, Federal Reserve, White House, Council of Economic Advisors, National Economic Council, National Security Council, and Office of Science and Technology Policy. Liang also added that the United States has an interest in deciding how other countries create their CBDCs. Therefore, she planned to push for international standards.

In June 2023, Department of the Treasury official Graham Steele spoke about CBDCs, saying, “A retail CBDC could contribute to a more competitive and innovative payment system; support financial inclusion; and help preserve the face value redemption of the currency.” However, Steele also noted that it would be a challenge to preserve “user privacy while minimizing risks of illicit financial transactions.”

In March 2024, chair Powell told Congress, “We are nowhere near recommending, let alone adopting, a central bank digital currency in any form.” However, he added that “If we were ever to do something like this… we would do this through the banking system.”

In April 2024, the Bank for International Settlements announced Project Agorá, a project in collaboration with the central banks of the United States. Switzerland, South Korea, France, England, Japan, and Mexico. According to the announcement, the project is meant to “explore how tokenisation of wholesale central bank money and commercial bank deposits on programmable platforms can improve the monetary system.” Project Agorá moved to the next phase in May 2024 with a call for private sector participation.

Federal Reserve governor Christopher J. Waller delivered a speech in November 2024 where he briefly commented on CBDCs in the context of the payments system. He said, “[Three] years ago there was an increase in public discussion about creating a new payment instrument called a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Federal Reserve Board was compiling a report and seeking public comment on the potential benefits and risks of the idea. In a speech I gave in August 2021, I asked, what problem would a CBDC solve? In other words, what market failure or inefficiency demands this specific intervention? In more than three years, I have yet to hear a satisfactory answer as applied to CBDC.”

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he has yet to hear a convincing reason to issue a CBDC. Going further, he said, “[D]on't start throwing stuff like an infomercial: ‘Look we got a CBDC. We can do this, we can do that, we can do this.’ That's what infomercials do. ‘It minces, it dices, it mashes. And the whole point of an infomercial is to make you avoid asking the question, ‘Do I really need this thing?’ And that was the FOMO that was going on.”

Testifying before Congress in February 2025, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell promised that the Federal Reserve would never issue a CBDC so long as he is leading the central bank. He later added: “We’re not doing any work that is designed to lead to a retail CBDC. That’s not happening. We don’t support one.” On the “notion of a wholesale CBDC,” Chair Powell said that “is really not one that we think about or accept.”

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

The United States earned an 83 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2023 Freedom in the World report. However, despite often being referred to as one of the freest countries in the world, there are problems in the United States. The issues most related to the issuance and use of a CBDC include sweeping financial surveillance and civil asset forfeiture. A CBDC could worsen both.

Although the U.S. Constitution protects a right to privacy, those rights do not extend to financial privacy. For example, under the law, banks and other financial institutions were required to file over 26 million reports to the government on customer activity in 2022. As if these reports were not enough on their own, law enforcement does not need a warrant to go after financial information. That reality was seen in practice when it was revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement collected over 6 million financial records. Unfortunately, a CBDC could be used to greatly expand surveillance by putting financial records on government databases by default.

Another concern is in the seizure of people’s money—referred to as civil asset forfeiture. The Institute for Justice has described this process as “one of the gravest abuses of power in the country today.” Others have referred to the process as “legalized theft.” A CBDC could worsen this practice by giving law enforcement new avenues to surveil people’s finances.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.