Why the GENIUS Act Could Unlock CBDC Surveillance Without Creating One

The GENIUS Act explicitly prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), aligning with opposition to a government-issued digital dollar. However, Aaron Day of the Brownstone Institute argues the act functions as a "backdoor CBDC" because it subjects the rapidly growing stablecoin market—which he views as functionally similar to a CBDC—to congressional surveillance and control. Day contends that the core concern for privacy advocates is the government's ability to program, track, and censor money, which he believes is already facilitated by existing frameworks like the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). He points to mechanisms like Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for transactions over $10,000 and FinCEN's ability to unilaterally lower reporting thresholds, as demonstrated by a recent geographic targeting order. Therefore, the GENIUS Act does not introduce new surveillance capabilities but rather formalizes and expands congressional oversight over private digital currencies, mirroring the control associated with a CBDC.

(Source：BeInCrypto)