I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5410 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and pilot digital dollar 

technologies that replicate the privacy-respecting features of physical cash. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023 

Mr. LYNCH (for himself, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. TLAIB, and Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and 

pilot digital dollar technologies that replicate the privacyrespecting features of physical cash. 

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 ‘‘Electronic Currency 

5 And Secure Hardware Act’’ or the ‘‘ECASH Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ECIP.—The term ‘‘ECIP’’ means the Elec2 tronic Currency Innovation Program established 

3 under section 4. 

4 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

6 SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC DOLLAR. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Treas8 ury shall promote and facilitate the development and de9 ployment of an electronic version of the United States dol10 lar for use by the general public that replicates and pre11 serves the privacy, anonymity-respecting, and minimal 

12 transactional data-generating properties of physical cur13 rency instruments such as coins and notes to the greatest 

14 extent technically and practically possible. 

15 (b) ELECTRONIC DOLLAR REQUIREMENTS.—The 

16 electronic dollar described under subsection (a) shall be— 

17 (1) known as ‘‘e-cash’’; 

18 (2) payable to bearer; 

19 (3) legal tender, as described in section 5103 of 

20 title 31, United States Code; 

21 (4) an obligation of the United States, as de22 scribed in section 8 of title 18, United States Code; 

23 (5) created and issued into circulation by the 

24 Department of the Treasury, in such quantities, de25 nominations, and technical forms as the Secretary, 


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1 in the Secretary’s discretion, determines to be appro2 priate; 

3 (6) distributed directly to, and capable of being 

4 owned, held, and used directly by, the general public; 

5 (7) capable of instantaneous, final, direct, peer6 to-peer, offline transactions using secured hardware 

7 devices that do not involve or require subsequent or 

8 final settlement on or via a common or distributed 

9 ledger, or any other additional approval or validation 

10 by the United States Government or any other third11 party payments processing intermediary; 

12 (8) inter-operable with all existing financial in13 stitution and payment provider systems and gen14 erally accepted payments standards and network 

15 protocols, as well as other public payments pro16 grams, including the U.S. Debit Card and Digital 

17 Pay Program and the EagleCash card program of 

18 the Department of the Treasury and any other dig19 ital dollar or public banking products; 

20 (9) classified and regulated in a manner similar 

21 to physical currency for the purposes of anti-money 

22 laundering, know-your-customer, counter-terrorism, 

23 and transaction reporting laws, and thus not subject 

24 to third-party exemptions to a reasonable expecta25 tion of privacy; 


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1 (10) designed, issued, and administered to be 

2 consistent with— 

3 (A) the statutory objectives articulated in 

4 subsection (c), as well as any rules, standards, 

5 and criteria enacted to further those objectives; 

6 (B) the consumer protections articulated in 

7 subsection (d), as well as any rules, standards, 

8 and criteria enacted to further those protec9 tions; and 

10 (C) any and all other technical and policy 

11 criteria established by this Act or by the Sec12 retary or Director under the authority granted 

13 to them under this Act; 

14 (11) distinguishable from other forms of elec15 tronic currency issued by or on behalf of the United 

16 States Government, including any such forms that— 

17 (A) are issued by a department, branch, 

18 agency, or instrumentality of the United States 

19 Government other than the Department of the 

20 Treasury, including such forms of ‘‘central 

21 bank digital currency’’ as may be issued by the 

22 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Sys23 tem or its designated agents; 

24 (B) are legally classified as an account bal25 ance or any other kind of financial instrument 


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1 not payable to bearer or that otherwise require 

2 identification and account or device registration 

3 to hold, access, or use; 

4 (C) are not distributed directly to, or oth5 erwise capable of being owned, held, or used di6 rectly by, the general public; or 

7 (D) fail to replicate and preserve the pri8 vacy, anonymity-respecting, and minimal trans9 actional data-generating properties of physical 

10 currency instruments such as coins and paper 

11 notes to the greatest extent technically and 

12 practically possible; and 

13 (12) not included in calculations of public debt 

14 subject to limit under section 3101 of title 31, 

15 United States Code. 

16 (c) STATUTORY OBJECTIVES.—The Secretary shall 

17 promulgate and enforce rules, standards, and criteria per18 taining to the development and implementation of e-cash 

19 instruments, devices, technologies, platforms, and sup20 porting and enabling infrastructure, as well as the 

21 issuance, dissemination, circulation, storage, and use of e22 cash balances, including use in transactions, in such a 

23 manner and to such an extent as the Secretary determines 

24 to be necessary or appropriate to achieve the objectives 

25 of this Act, subject to the following conditions: 


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1 (1) OWNERSHIP.—The Secretary shall require 

2 that any and all e-cash instruments are capable of 

3 being owned, held, and used directly by the general 

4 public via widely available hardware devices, without 

5 the necessary involvement of third-party custodial or 

6 payment processing intermediaries. 

7 (2) PRIVACY.—The Secretary shall require that 

8 any hardware device authorized to hold or otherwise 

9 facilitate transactions involving e-cash shall be se10 cured locally via cryptographic encryption and other 

11 appropriate technologies, and shall not contain or be 

12 subject to any surveillance, personal identification or 

13 transactional data-gathering, or censorship-enabling 

14 backdoor features. 

15 (3) UNIVERSALITY.—The Secretary shall 

16 prioritize wherever possible technologies, practices, 

17 and programs that promote universal access and 

18 usability, particularly for— 

19 (A) individuals with disabilities, including 

20 visual impairment; 

21 (B) low-income individuals; and 

22 (C) communities with limited access to the 

23 internet or telecommunications networks. 

24 (4) INCLUSION.—The Secretary shall take into 

25 consideration the unique needs and circumstances of 


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1 marginalized communities and populations that have 

2 historically been excluded from or otherwise pre3 vented from taking full advantage of traditional and 

4 current financial institutions and payment services. 

5 (5) TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary shall seek 

6 out and prioritize wherever practically feasible the 

7 use of hardware and software technologies issued 

8 under open-source licenses, and shall further require 

9 that all publicly funded research and technology be 

10 released under a suitable open-source license and 

11 made available for study and review by the scientific 

12 community and the general public, except to the ex13 tent that doing so would undermine or impair the 

14 security and integrity of e-cash devices or instru15 ments. 

16 (d) CONSUMER PROTECTIONS.— 

17 (1) FEES.—The Government may charge rea18 sonable prices when selling e-cash-compatible hard19 ware (henceforth ‘‘e-cash devices’’) directly to the 

20 public, provided such prices are proportionate to, 

21 and not unduly in excess of, actual production and 

22 administration costs, but may in no instance impose 

23 fees or other charges for holding, receiving, sending, 

24 or otherwise transacting with e-cash balances using 

25 such devices. 


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1 (2) SOLICITED ISSUANCE OF E-CASH HARD2 WARE DEVICES.—The Government or an authorized 

3 e-cash distributor may issue an e-cash device to a 

4 member of the public only in response to an oral or 

5 written request for such device. 

6 (3) SOLICITED ISSUANCE OF E-CASH BAL7 ANCES.—The Government or an authorized e-cash 

8 distributor may issue e-cash instruments to a user 

9 only in response to an oral or written request to re10 ceive funds in the form of e-cash, and any such re11 quested funds shall be capable of being— 

12 (A) received in the form of an increase in 

13 the available balance of an existing e-cash de14 vice or as a balance on a newly issued e-cash 

15 device; and 

16 (B) paid for, to the extent such instru17 ments shall be paid for, through delivery of 

18 physical currency or demand deposits at an 

19 interoperable exchange terminal. 

20 (4) DISCLOSURES BY E-CASH DISTRIBUTORS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Disclosures by the 

22 United States Government and any third-party 

23 authorized to distribute e-cash devices or bal24 ances regarding usage, fees, interoperability, se25 curity, privacy, data collection, error resolution, 


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1 and any other terms considered relevant by the 

2 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection shall 

3 be clear and readily understandable, in writing, 

4 and in a form the e-cash instrument bearer can 

5 reasonably maintain. 

6 (B) FORM OF DISCLOSURES.—Disclosures 

7 described under subparagraph (A) may be pro8 vided to the consumer in offline electronic form, 

9 subject to compliance with the consumer-con10 sent and other applicable provisions of the Elec11 tronic Signatures in Global and National Com12 merce Act (15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.). 

13 (5) LIABILITY OF ISSUERS FOR UNAUTHORIZED

14 TRANSFERS.—Neither the issuing entity nor any 

15 other Government agencies or approved e-cash dis16 tributors shall be held liable for unauthorized trans17 fer of e-cash balances, so long as the appropriate 

18 disclosures and protections described in this Act are 

19 made. 

20 (6) FEES BY MERCHANTS.—It shall be unlawful 

21 for the United States Government, authorized e-cash 

22 distributors, or any other person to impose a service 

23 fee or an interchange fee, or other processing fee or 

24 surcharge, for the use of e-cash in payments or pur25 chases. 


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1 (7) BANKRUPTCY.—E-cash instruments and 

2 balances shall be considered exempt property equiva3 lent to physical currency for the purposes of Chapter 

4 7 Bankruptcy proceedings. 

5 (8) TRANSACTIONAL REPORTING.—Under no 

6 circumstance, regardless of the particular technology 

7 involved, shall any transaction data generated by e8 cash payments be collected, monitored, or retained 

9 by the United States Government, an authorized e10 cash distributor, or any other counterparty except 

11 via the exemptions provided by this Act. 

12 (9) PREEMPTION OF INCONSISTENT STATE

13 LAWS.—State consumer laws are pre-empted unless 

14 the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial 

15 Protection determines, upon the Director’s own mo16 tion or upon the request of a State government, but 

17 ultimately in the Director’s sole discretion, that a 

18 State’s consumer protection laws are not pre19 empted. 

20 (e) REQUIREMENT TO ACCEPT E-CASH.— 

21 (1) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The Federal 

22 Government shall— 

23 (A) accept e-cash for any payment to the 

24 Federal Government, including payments for 

25 taxes, fines, and fees; and 


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1 (B) upon request, provide any Federal 

2 Government benefit in the form of e-cash. 

3 (2) PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.—Any person 

4 selling products or services that accepts physical cur5 rency as a form of payment shall also accept e-cash 

6 as a form of payment to the extent it is practically 

7 feasible and reasonable to do so. 

8 (f) ILLICIT FLOWS.— 

9 (1) PRESUMPTION OF LEGITIMATE USE.— 

10 Under no condition shall the acquisition, possession, 

11 or use of e-cash devices, instruments, and balances 

12 under the parameters established by this Act be 

13 treated as prima facie or intrinsic evidence of crimi14 nal activity or intent, nor be established as a predi15 cate offense or factor in crimes not specified in or 

16 under the authority established by this Act. 

17 (2) INCLUDING UNDER THE BANK SECRECY

18 ACT.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 5312(a)(3) of 

20 title 31, United States Code, is amended— 

21 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

22 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

23 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 

24 (D) as subparagraph (E); 


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1 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

2 (C) the following: 

3 ‘‘(D) e-cash, as defined under section 3 of 

4 the ECASH Act; and’’; and 

5 (iv) in subparagraph (E), as so redes6 ignated, by striking ‘‘subparagraph (A), 

7 (B), or (C)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 

8 (A), (B), (C), or (D)’’. 

9 (B) AMENDMENTS TO DOLLAR THRESH10 OLDS.—At any time, the Director of ECIP may 

11 increase the value thresholds applicable to e12 cash for any reporting requirement under sub13 chapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United 

14 States Code, but may at no time decrease such 

15 value thresholds. 

16 (g) SYSTEMIC LIQUIDITY.—The Board of Governors 

17 of the Federal Reserve System shall take appropriate 

18 measures to ensure that the implementation and adoption 

19 of e-cash does not disrupt or substantially impact the gen20 eral availability or cost of liquidity for depository institu21 tions, credit unions, or community development financial 

22 institutions, or their capacity to extend credit and other 

23 financial services to underserved populations, as described 

24 under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, and any 

25 other applicable Federal and State laws, however such 


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1 measures may in no way impair, restrict, or otherwise 

2 limit the ability of the public to access, hold, and use e3 cash. 

4 SEC. 4. ELECTRONIC CURRENCY INNOVATION PROGRAM. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish the 

6 Electronic Currency Innovation Program to direct, over7 see, coordinate, and harmonize the development, imple8 mentation, maintenance, and regulation of e-cash instru9 ments, devices, technologies, platforms, and supporting 

10 and enabling infrastructure in accordance with the tech11 nical and policy criteria established by this Act. 

12 (b) DIRECTOR.— 

13 (1) APPOINTMENT.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The head of the ECIP 

15 shall be the Director, who shall be appointed by 

16 the President, by and with the advice and con17 sent of the Senate. 

18 (B) TERM.—The term of the Director is 5 

19 years. 

20 (C) REMOVAL.—The President may re21 move the Director from office. On removal, the 

22 President shall send a message to the Senate 

23 giving the reasons for removal. 

24 (D) INTERIM DIRECTOR.—When a Direc25 tor has not yet been confirmed or appointed, 


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1 the Secretary may, subject to the consent of the 

2 President, appoint an Interim Director, who 

3 shall enjoy the full powers and privileges of the 

4 Director as established under this Act until 

5 such time as a permanent Director is confirmed 

6 and appointed. In the event neither a Director 

7 or Interim Director is appointed, all responsibil8 ities and duties assigned to the Director under 

9 this Act shall be assumed by the Secretary. 

10 (2) DUTIES AND POWERS.—The duties and 

11 powers of the Director are as follows: 

12 (A) Promote innovation in, and ensure the 

13 successful implementation and widespread 

14 adoption of, e-cash instruments, devices, tech15 nologies, platforms, and supporting and ena16 bling infrastructure in accordance with this Act, 

17 by— 

18 (i) directing, conducting, sponsoring, 

19 and publishing research; 

20 (ii) generating, collecting, analyzing, 

21 and publishing data; 

22 (iii) acquiring, developing, dissemi23 nating, and sharing open-access tech24 nologies and technical knowledge; 


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1 (iv) developing and administering e2 cash pilot programs, both individually and 

3 in partnership with other actors and enti4 ties that the Secretary determines appro5 priate; 

6 (v) promulgating, and enforcing rules, 

7 objectives, standards, and criteria per8 taining to the development and implemen9 tation of e-cash instruments, devices, tech10 nologies, platforms, and supporting and 

11 enabling infrastructure, as well as the 

12 issuance, dissemination, circulation, stor13 age, and use of e-cash, including its use in 

14 transactions; 

15 (vi) coordinating with other actors, in16 cluding other departments, branches, agen17 cies, and instrumentalities of the United 

18 States Government, as well as State, local, 

19 and foreign governments and international 

20 regulatory bodies, in furtherance of the 

21 general goals of this Act; and 

22 (vii) developing and disseminating 

23 public educational materials and con24 ducting public educational campaigns to 

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1 cash and its economic and social signifi2 cance in the broader monetary system. 

3 (B) Such other duties and powers as the 

4 Secretary may delegate or prescribe. 

5 (c) STAFF, EQUIPMENT, AND FACILITIES.—The Di6 rector shall be authorized to hire staff, purchase equip7 ment, and rent or acquire facilities as the Director deter8 mines to be appropriate to achieve the goals and objectives 

9 established under this Act, subject to the approval of the 

10 Secretary. 

11 (d) PILOT PROGRAMS.— 

12 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

14 after the enactment of this Act, the Director 

15 shall initiate a two-phase e-cash pilot program 

16 in anticipation of general deployment of e-cash 

17 to the public not later than forty-eight months 

18 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

19 (B) PHASE 1.—Phase 1 of the pilot pro20 gram shall consist of not less than three dis21 tinct pilots (in this section referred to as 

22 ‘‘Proof-of-Concept Pilots’’), each of which shall 

23 launch no later than 180 days after the date of 

24 enactment of this Act, and run for no longer 

25 than 360 days thereafter. 


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1 (C) PHASE 2.—Phase 2 of the pilot pro2 gram shall consist of at least one large-scale de3 ployment to a segment of the public (in this 

4 section referred to as ‘‘Field Test Pilots’’), 

5 which shall launch no later than 2 years after 

6 the enactment of this Act, and run for no 

7 longer than 2 years thereafter. 

8 (D) EXTENSION OF TIMELINES FOR PILOT

9 PROGRAMS.—The timelines for the implementa10 tion of the two phases of the e-cash pilot pro11 gram described in this paragraph may be ex12 tended upon a determination by the Director 

13 that such an extension is necessary to ensure 

14 the security and integrity of the technologies to 

15 be piloted in the program. 

16 (2) ADMINISTRATION.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The pilot programs 

18 shall be administered by the Director, in coordi19 nation with the Digital Dollar Council, and sub20 ject to the ongoing oversight and review of the 

21 Monetary Privacy Board. 

22 (B) PROOF-OF-CONCEPT PILOTS.—Proof23 of-Concept Pilots may be conducted— 

24 (i) in partnership with one or more 

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1 nancial institutions, non-bank payment 

2 providers aimed at promoting financial in3 clusion, technology-focused financial firms 

4 and companies, financial technology com5 panies, or foreign central banks; and 

6 (ii) through, or in partnership with, 

7 any existing Federal, State, or local gov8 ernment fund disbursement and payments 

9 program, including those that rely on the 

10 U.S. Debit Card and Digital Pay Program, 

11 the EagleCash Card program, or any other 

12 payments technology offered by or in part13 nership with the Bureau of the Fiscal 

14 Service of the Department of the Treasury. 

15 (C) FIELD TEST PILOTS.—Field Test Pi16 lots may be conducted in partnership with any 

17 entity capable of partnering for a Proof-of-Con18 cept Pilot, as well as other departments, 

19 branches, agencies, and instrumentalities of the 

20 United States Government, or State, local, and 

21 foreign governments and international regu22 latory bodies. 

23 (3) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of the pilot 

24 programs are to test the viability and capacity of 

25 various forms of e-cash technologies to— 


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1 (A) preserve the privacy, anonymity-re2 specting, and minimal transactional data-gener3 ating properties of physical currency instru4 ments such as coins and notes to the greatest 

5 extent technically and practically possible; 

6 (B) enforce total balance and transactional 

7 activity limits on a per-device basis without ren8 dering such devices vulnerable to surveillance or 

9 censorship by third parties including the United 

10 States Government; 

11 (C) deploy rapidly, securely, and efficiently 

12 on a mass scale; and 

13 (D) maintain ease of use and interoper14 ability with existing financial institution and 

15 payment provider systems, as well as any other 

16 digital dollar products. 

17 (4) PARAMETERS AND CONSTRAINTS.— 

18 (A) All technologies selected for Proof-of19 Concept Pilots and Field Test Pilots shall be— 

20 (i) designed as bearer instruments; 

21 (ii) capable of instantaneous, final, di22 rect, peer-to-peer, offline transactions; and 

23 (iii) capable of being distributed di24 rectly to, and owned, held, and used di25 rectly by, the general public. 


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1 (B) At least two technologies selected for 

2 Proof-of-Concept Pilots shall be based on se3 cured hardware-based architectures for the pur4 poses of creation, distribution, holding, and 

5 payment that do not involve any common or 

6 distributed ledger. 

7 (C) At least one technology selected for 

8 Proof-of-Concept Pilots shall include a stored9 value or pin card option for storage and pay10 ment of e-cash. 

11 (D) At least one technology selected for 

12 Proof-of-Concept Pilots shall include a cell 

13 phone or SIM card option for storage and pay14 ment of e-cash. 

15 (E) All technologies selected for Field Test 

16 Pilots shall have or at a minimum be capable 

17 of incorporating stored-value card functionality. 

18 (5) SPECIAL TENDER AUTHORITY.—In order to 

19 facilitate and promote the effectiveness of the pilot 

20 programs, the Secretary may grant special recogni21 tion of prototypical e-cash instruments issued under 

22 a pilot program as legal tender, and direct the 

23 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 

24 other departments, branches, agencies, and instru25 mentalities of the United States Government, any 


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1 other federally regulated financial institution to ac2 cept such prototypical e-cash instruments in settle3 ment of outstanding obligations on an at-par basis. 

4 (6) REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days after 

5 the date on which each phase of the pilot programs 

6 terminates, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 

7 report regarding that phase of the pilot programs, 

8 which shall— 

9 (A) include— 

10 (i) a description of which elements of 

11 the pilot programs were successful and 

12 which were unsuccessful; 

13 (ii) recommendations regarding legis14 lative changes to the pilot programs and 

15 related authority under this Act and else16 where; and 

17 (iii) recommendations for additional 

18 pilots and revisions to the pilot program; 

19 and 

20 (B) make the nonsensitive analytical data 

21 available for public review and comment. 

22 SEC. 5. DIGITAL DOLLAR COUNCIL. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish the 

24 Digital Dollar Council (in this section referred to as ‘‘the 

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1 tivities with the efforts of other bureaus of the Depart2 ment of the Treasury and other departments, branches, 

3 agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States Gov4 ernment, including the Board of Governors of the Federal 

5 Reserve System and the United States Postal Service. 

6 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Council shall be comprised 

7 of the Secretary, the Director of ECIP, the Chairman of 

8 the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 

9 the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Serv10 ice, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

11 Policy, the Chief Technology Officer of the United States, 

12 and the Director of the National Institute of Standards 

13 and Technology, and any other Federal employees or rep14 resentatives of Federal agencies as the Secretary, in the 

15 Secretary’s discretion, determines to be appropriate. 

16 (c) LEADERSHIP.—The head of the Council shall be 

17 the Secretary, however, the Secretary may, at the Sec18 retary’s discretion, delegate administrative and decision19 making responsibility to the Director. 

20 (d) AUTHORITY.—The Council shall have the power 

21 to redeploy personnel and resources among the various 

22 participating agencies, as well as establish or amend any 

23 rules and regulations promulgated by any participating 

24 agencies to the extent the Council determines such actions 


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1 to be necessary to achieve the goals and objectives estab2 lished under this Act. 

3 (e) JURISDICTION.—Nothing in this section shall be 

4 construed as taking away any powers heretofore or other5 wise vested by law in the Secretary, and wherever any 

6 power vested in the Council appears to conflict with the 

7 powers vested in the Secretary under this Act, such powers 

8 shall be exercised subject to the supervision and control 

9 of the Secretary. 

10 (f) JOINT REPORT.—Beginning 180 days after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, and each 180 days there12 after, the Council and the National Institute for Stand13 ards and Technology shall issue a joint report to the Con14 gress detailing a plan to achieve full interoperability with 

15 existing public and private payments systems within 1 

16 year. 

17 SEC. 6. MONETARY PRIVACY BOARD. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a Monetary 

19 Privacy Board (in this section referred to as ‘‘the Board’’). 

20 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall be com22 prised of 5 members, appointed by the President, by 

23 and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

24 (2) CHAIR.—The President shall appoint one 

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1 cept as provided under subsections (c) and (e), the 

2 Chair shall— 

3 (A) make all decisions of the Board with 

4 respect to staffing, hiring, and budget alloca5 tion; and 

6 (B) conduct the meetings of the Board. 

7 (3) TERM.—The term of each member of the 

8 Board is 3 years. 

9 (4) REMOVAL.—The President may remove a 

10 member of the Board from office. On removal, the 

11 President shall send a message to the Senate giving 

12 the reasons for removal. 

13 (5) INTERIM MEMBERS.—When a vacancy on 

14 the Board remains open for more than three 

15 months, the President may appoint an interim mem16 ber to fill that vacancy. Interim members shall enjoy 

17 the full powers and privileges of a full member until 

18 such time as a permanent member is appointed and 

19 confirmed. 

20 (c) MEMBER OFFICES.—Each member of the Board 

21 shall be entitled to spend 5 percent of the budget of the 

22 Board on the personal office and staff of the member. 

23 (d) DUTIES AND POWERS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall review the 

25 actions and decisions of the Secretary, the Director 


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1 of ECIP, and ECIP generally on an ongoing basis 

2 to evaluate the extent to which their decisions are 

3 consistent with their statutory responsibilities under 

4 this Act, and more broadly, a general commitment 

5 to preserving the privacy interests of individuals and 

6 actors that use e-cash and other forms of digital dol7 lar technologies issued or administered by the 

8 United States Government. 

9 (2) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT.—The Board shall 

10 issue a report to Congress no less than twice per 

11 year— 

12 (A) detailing its findings from its ongoing 

13 review process; 

14 (B) providing an assessment of the general 

15 state of monetary privacy in the United States; 

16 and 

17 (C) offering recommendations for how to 

18 better protect civil liberties and individual pri19 vacy interests through legislative and regulatory 

20 reform. 

21 (3) INTERIM REPORTS.—The Board, or one or 

22 more members thereof, may publish interim reports 

23 or any other communication at any time at their dis24 cretion, provided such reports and communications 

25 are clearly distinguished from the reports required 


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•HR 5410 IH

1 under paragraph (2), and the particular authors and 

2 co-signatories are clearly indicated. 

3 (e) FUNDING AUTHORITY.—The Board shall submit 

4 an annual budget request to the Secretary, and the Sec5 retary shall transfer the requested amount to the Board, 

6 using the authorities provided under section 7(b), unless 

7 the Secretary determines that the amount is unreasonable 

8 in light of the Board’s duties and powers under this Act. 

9 SEC. 7. ENABLING AUTHORITY. 

10 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

12 necessary to carry out this Act. 

13 (b) FINANCING.— 

14 (1) FUND ACCOUNT.—The Federal Reserve 

15 Bank of New York shall establish a new account on 

16 behalf of the Secretary, called the ‘‘Treasury Elec17 tronic Currency Innovation Fund Account’’ (in this 

18 section referred to as the ‘‘Fund Account’’). 

19 (2) USE OF FUND ACCOUNT.—The Secretary 

20 shall effectuate any and all spending under this Act 

21 by drawing an overdraft on the Fund Account, 

22 which shall be accommodated and facilitated auto23 matically, on an indefinite basis, and without the im24 position of any interest charge or other form of 

25 maintenance or overdraft fees by the Federal ReVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:58 Sep 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5410.IH H5410

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•HR 5410 IH

1 serve Bank of New York and the Board of Gov2 ernors of the Federal Reserve System. 

3 (3) OVERDRAFT TREATMENT.—The Fund Ac4 count shall be exempt from any overdraft prohibi5 tions that currently apply to other accounts adminis6 tered on behalf of the Department of the Treasury 

7 Department by the Federal Reserve System or a 

8 Federal reserve bank, and any overdraft liability in9 curred by the Department of the Treasury shall not 

10 be included in calculations of public debt subject to 

11 limit under section 3101 of title 31, United States 

12 Code. 

13 (4) TREATMENT OF LOSSES.—The Federal Re14 serve Bank of New York shall record any losses in15 curred as a result of spending undertaken on behalf 

16 of the Secretary from the Fund Account as a de17 ferred asset (as described in section 11.96 of the Fi18 nancial Accounting Manual for Federal Reserve 

19 Banks, as in effect on the date of the enactment of 

20 this Act) and shall be excluded from calculations of 

21 the net operating position or consolidated balance 

22 sheet of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or 

23 the Federal Reserve System, so as to not reduce or 

24 impact the calculation of total income or revenue 

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•HR 5410 IH

1 wise reduce the total amount of net operating profits 

2 to be made available for remittance to the Treasury 

3 on an ongoing basis. 

Æ 


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