II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3248 

To prohibit money services businesses from engaging in any transaction 

that involves a central bank digital currency issued by the People’s 

Republic of China, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2023 

Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit money services businesses from engaging in any 

transaction that involves a central bank digital currency 

issued by the People’s Republic of China, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chinese CBDC Prohi5 bition Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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•S 3248 IS

1 (1) In 2021 testimony before the House Com2 mittee on Financial Services, Yaya Fanusie, Adjunct 

3 Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Se4 curity, noted that the People’s Republic of China is 

5 pushing aggressively to become a global leader in fi6 nancial technology, and the People’s Republic of 

7 China is in a position to launch the largest digital 

8 currency project of any major economy. Additionally, 

9 the Chinese central bank digital currency will pro10 vide the Chinese Communist Party with data on its 

11 users, and bolster the social credit program of the 

12 Party, ultimately furthering the punitive control 

13 power of the Party over Chinese citizens. 

14 (2) On April 28, 2021, Jerome Powell, Chair15 man of the Board of Governors of the Federal Re16 serve System, stated, ‘‘The [digital] currency that is 

17 being used in China is not one that would work here. 

18 It’s one that really allows the government to see 

19 every payment for which it is used in real time.’’. 

20 (3) According to Sir Jeremy Fleming, Director 

21 of the Government Communications Headquarters of 

22 the United Kingdom, ‘‘Control is also a major driver 

23 for Beijing as it seeks to build a centralized digital 

24 currency. Yes, it introduces efficiencies and new 

25 ways of settling payments. But the way it’s being 


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•S 3248 IS

1 implemented allows the monitoring of citizens and it 

2 forces companies to use the service. It might, in fu3 ture, also enable China to partially evade the sorts 

4 of international sanctions currently being applied to 

5 Putin’s regime in Russia.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. MONEY SERVICES BUSINESSES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 53 of 

8 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘§ 5337. Money services businesses 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘money 

12 services business’ has the meaning given the term in sec13 tion 1010.100 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations. 

14 ‘‘(b) TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING DIGITAL CURRENCY

15 OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.—No money serv16 ices business may engage in any transaction, directly or 

17 indirectly, that involves a central bank digital currency 

18 issued by the People’s Republic of China.’’. 

19 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

20 The table of sections for subchapter II of chapter 53 of 

21 title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

22 end the following: 

‘‘5337. Money services businesses.’’. 

Æ 


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