Fed Is Still Exploring a CBDC Amid Trump’s Ban

• The Federal Reserve’s notice and an ex-CFTC chair revealed that the US hadn’t given up on its CBDC dream just yet.

The US Federal Reserve’s official website indicates that it’s still exploring a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Timothy Massad, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), also confirmed during an event that the government has remained a participant in a major CBDC project.

The Prevailing CBDC Ban

As early as the campaign leading up to the 2024 elections, President Donald Trump had made it clear that he opposed the creation of CBDCs. With former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s urging, he vowed to block these digital monetary instruments, which he believed would rob people of their money and pose a “dangerous threat to freedom.”

Trump immediately set things in motion, fulfilling his campaign promise in one of the earliest Executive Orders of his current term, titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” From there, he outright prohibited the establishment, issuance, circulation, use, and development of a CBDC within US jurisdiction.

The EO defined CBDC as a “form of digital money or monetary value denominated in the national unit of account that is a direct liability of the central bank.”

Ongoing Exploration for a CBDC in the US

Despite Trump’s ban, Massad revealed in CoinDesk’s Digital Money Summit 2026 in London that the US government is still exploring the development of a CBDC “behind closed doors.” He claimed that central bank experiments involving stablecoins in some countries have forced the US to reconsider its stance.

Given that, it’s stealthily continuing to study the pros and cons of a CBDC. The Fed’s official website confirmed his exposé on a page dedicated to the subject.

According to the Fed’s February 2026 update, it hadn’t made any decision on whether to pursue or implement a CBDC. However, it’s looking at the potential benefits and risks of the digital monetary instrument from various perspectives, including through technological research and experimentation.

Additionally, the Fed highlighted that its key focus is on whether and how a CBDC could improve on an already safe and efficient US domestic payments system. It’s currently seeking public feedback on the discussion paper related to the matter that it published early this year.

Moreover, Massad noted that the US remains an active participant in Project Agora, a CBDC initiative from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).

“We don’t have a central bank president who is going to get out there and speak about wholesale or retail CBDC, but that does not mean that we are not looking at how to create one,” said Massad during the event.

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