Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent Rules Out CBDC Under Trump, “CLARITY Act Is Coming”
Highlights
- Scott Bessent declared there will be no US CBDC, calling it "the first step toward tracking," and pressed Congress to fast-track the CLARITY Act.
- The Senate returns July 17 with about three weeks before the August break, seen as the last realistic window to pass the bill in 2026.
- The no-CBDC stance favors private stablecoins and tokenized assets, giving exchanges, custodians, and issuers long-awaited regulatory certainty.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has drawn the clearest line yet from the Trump administration on digital assets. In a White House press briefing on May 28, 2026, Bessent declared that there will be no U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC). They also demanded that Congress move fast on the CLARITY Act to bring the crypto industry home.
CLARITY Act Faces Senate Clock as Bessent Turns Up the Heat
The CLARITY Act, formally H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, passed the U.S. House in July 2025 with a 294–134 bipartisan margin. On May 14, 2026, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance it 15-9, and it was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders.
A segment of Bessent’s speech resurfaced this week on X and has since gone viral across the crypto communities. The aim is bringing two of the most impactful digital asset policy fights of this year to the forefront.
This administration has been very clear, Bessent told reporters at the White House: “There will be no central bank digital currency, which I think would be the first step toward tracking. So we have taken that off the table.”
🚨IT'S OFFICIAL: 🇺🇸 Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent says that there will be NO CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY (CBDC) under President Trump.
The CLARITY ACT is coming! pic.twitter.com/6a9HKwgsNB
— Eleanor (@wilming_ton) July 11, 2026
He then shifted to the legislative arena, calling on the House and Senate to move the CLARITY Act forward without delay. The remarks were made weeks after Bessent engaged in a separate meeting with Congress on the same bill.
As earlier reported, Treasury’s posture on digital assets has consistently favored private innovation over government-controlled alternatives, a stance that now carries added weight as the Senate races against a critical deadline.
However, time is up in the blink of an eye. The Senate returns to session on July 17 and will have about three weeks before the August break. It has been a consistent target across Wall Street for this window as the final realistic opportunity for passage in 2026. The bill still requires 60 votes to pass the filibuster.
The public pressure Bessent faces now is right when those talks are up in the air. The CLARITY Act is the final piece of the administration’s crypto policy that’s waiting for final approval in the Senate, following the passage of the crypto-focused GENIUS Act in July 2025.
Notably, CLARITY Bill Odds Rise as Treasury Secretary Presses Senate and House On Crypto Bill, the momentum from Bessent’s public campaigning for the bill is now more visible than ever.
No CBDC, Pro-Privacy: What It Means for Crypto Markets
However, a CBDC can also be used as a surveillance tool, something that Bitcoin advocates and crypto-native investors have been advocating since the beginning.
His straight rejection further cements the Trump administration’s stance on financial privacy as a fundamental tenet, not a side issue.
In the absence of a government-issued digital dollar, the administration’s bet is on private stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets as the U.S. dollar’s digital future.
The CLARITY Act’s regulatory certainty will be best for exchanges, custodians, and stablecoin issuers. The anti-CBDC stance also aligns with a broader legislative push that has been building for months.
Previously, the House had added an anti-CBDC amendment to the CLARITY Act, marking the two policy fights as a package. The no-CBDC stance and impending CLARITY Act vote are two of the most attractive regulatory environments for digital assets in years for investors.
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