President Donald Trump Issues Executive Order Banning CBDC in the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order barring the creation and issuance of a Central Bank Digital Currency, CBDC, in the country.

The order defines a CBDC as “a form of digital money or monetary value” that is directly related to the central bank and denominated in the national unit of account. The decree prohibits any government agencies from taking any action to establish, issue, or promote a CBDC both domestically and on the international scene. It also puts any current initiatives with respect to its development to a full stop.

The executive order cites privacy, financial stability, and national sovereignty risks from CBDCs. Instead, it calls for a private-sector-led digital asset economy focused on dollar-backed stablecoins.

President Donald Trump had also criticized cryptocurrency as a candidate in his first run for the presidency but shifted tack on the campaign trail to vow to outlaw CBDCs if elected to a second term.

The move has been cast as part of a broader bid to appease the burgeoning crypto industry, which underwrote vast swaths of his 2024 election campaign. Crypto investors, executives and firms gave a disproportionately large share of corporate donations, some tens of millions of dollars, to his reelection efforts.

The executive order also addresses the establishment of rules for crypto technologies in the United States and covers the creation of a national digital asset stockpile from cryptocurrencies seized by federal authorities, among other assets.