According to PANews, U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has expressed concerns that the GENIUS Stablecoin Bill could serve as a 'backdoor' for the government to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC) under the guise of privately issued crypto tokens. Greene stated that the bill regulates stablecoins and provides a pathway for CBDC, which the Federal Reserve has been planning for years. She warned that such a development could lead to a cashless society where a controlling government might use digital currencies against individuals.
Critics argue that the line between central bank digital currencies and government-regulated stablecoins is blurred. Bitcoin advocate Justin Bechler commented on social media platform X, suggesting that the GENIUS Bill forces stablecoins to comply with CBDC regulations, making them functionally similar without the intimidating label. Saifedean Ammous, author of "The Bitcoin Standard," remarked that the U.S. dollar, in any form, is essentially a central bank digital currency, already under state surveillance and increasingly digitalized. Jean Rausis, co-founder of the decentralized trading platform Smardex, noted that if the government controls stablecoins, it effectively controls financial transactions.
