U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Basset Rejects Central Bank Digital Currency
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Basset has made it clear that there will be no central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States.
He emphasized that the most important thing right now is to bring digital assets into the U.S. and promote innovation in the private sector along with regulatory clarity.
In market mechanisms, crypto investors and institutions are accelerating purchases of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoin-related assets; event-driven funds are shifting from potential CBDC concerns to private digital assets; U.S. crypto companies and digital asset holders are benefiting, while traditional central banking systems and voices supporting CBDCs are under pressure.
Source: Public Information
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Scott Basset, as a former hedge fund manager at Key Square Group, has long supported crypto assets and previously opposed excessive intervention by the Federal Reserve during Trump's first term. After taking office in 2025, he is expected to promote a strategic Bitcoin reserve plan and has publicly referred to CBDCs as "weak signals" and "communist money" multiple times.
In terms of capital pathways, the U.S. Treasury and White House resources are shifting towards a framework for private digital assets, mobilizing institutional funds into stablecoins and Bitcoin reserves through legislation like the CLARITY Act, while redirecting regulatory resources that could have been used for CBDCs to combat illegal crypto activities and attract compliant innovative capital back to the U.S.
Basset's stance is reminiscent of the encouragement of private financial innovation during the Reagan era and is similar to the early regulatory easing phase for crypto from 2017 to 2021. The current U.S. digital asset industry is in an expansion phase, transitioning from regulatory suppression to becoming a national strategic asset, aiming to consolidate the dollar's hegemony in the digital age.
Essentially, this represents a transfer of pricing power. By rejecting government-issued CBDCs, the dominance of monetary and payment innovation is shifted from central banks to the private sector. The mechanism is to let market competition drive innovation while using U.S. regulatory standards to attract global capital, avoiding the trust and efficiency risks associated with direct government control.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
Without government-issued digital currency, true monetary innovation can occur in the private sector.
Rejecting central control is often the beginning of strengthening national financial power.
A seemingly conservative stance often conceals a strategic layout for future pricing power.