North Carolina's House of Representatives has passed a bill prohibiting the state's agencies and institutions from accepting payments in central bank digital currencies (CBDC). The bill would prevent the state's court system or any agencies tied to the state from accepting a Fed Reserve-issued digital dollar and also bans the state from participating in any pilot tests of CBDCs. The U.S. Treasury has said leaders are evaluating the issuance of a digital dollar, but U.S. lawmakers are increasingly opposing it, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposing similar legislation to ban CBDC payments in his state. Crypto ally Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) has said CBDCs could be weaponized as a political tool. The North Carolina bill was introduced in early April under the title "No Cryptocurrency Payments to State" but was changed to focus on digital currencies issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve in an edition filed on Tuesday.

(By Sandali Handagama)