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Though it has nearly universal support in the House and Senate, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has rejected a measure prohibiting the state from using Federal Reserve-issued central bank digital money.
Cooper, who has been attacked for making a politically driven decision, clarified in a June 5 statement that House Bill 690 was too “premature, vague, and reactionary” to sign into law.
“Efforts are being made at the federal level to guarantee standards and protections are in place to protect consumers, investors, and businesses [using] digital assets, and North Carolina should wait to see how they operate before acting.”
Cooper’s veto came following an overwhelming 109-4 House vote and a 39-5 Senate vote in late June.
With a three-fifths majority in both chambers, North Carolina lawmakers could readily overcome Cooper’s veto given the near-uniform votes.
Cooper’s veto was not favorably received.
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Mitchell Askew, chief analyst from Blockware Solutions and a native North Carolina resident, said to Cointelegraph, “The veto from Governor Cooper was not representative of the desires of North Carolinians.”
Askew said it was unfortunate Cooper was “unwilling to put partisan politics aside” to back a measure benefiting every North Carolina resident.
“He vetoed only because his opponent Mark Robinson is in favor of the bill. It’s clear who the pro-Bitcoin and pro-freedom candidate is here.”
Likewise, head of industry affairs at the Blockchain Association, Dan Spuller, said Cooper’s veto was a chance lost to clearly convey North Carolina’s strong opposition to a CBDC.
The American people must keep control over digital assets so that any evolution of digital money respects our ideals of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness.
That said, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated at a March federal Senate Banking Committee hearing that the U.S. was “nowhere near recommending or let alone adopting a central bank digital currency in any form.”
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