US lawmakers propose new bill requiring the Treasury Department to evaluate digital dollars and digital yuan

U.S. Congressmen French Hill and Jim Himes have introduced a bill requiring the U.S. Treasury to assess the role of digital yuan, digital dollars, and the actual U.S. dollar in the global economy.

The bill, called the “21st Century Dollar Act,” would require the Treasury Secretary (Janet Yellen) to submit a report to the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee on “efforts by major foreign central banks, including the People’s Bank of China, to create official digital currencies, and any risks these efforts pose to the national interest of the United States.”

The bill would also require the Treasury Department to develop a strategy to enhance the dollar's reserve status.

Keeping the dollar as the world's reserve currency would be "good for American companies and workers, as well as for America's global influence," Hill said in a statement.

“Congress and policymakers need to understand the risks facing the dollar, particularly as it relates to the Chinese yuan, to ensure the dollar’s ​​safety and pre-eminence,” he said.

Himes said in a statement that the dollar is an "important geopolitical tool" in the U.S. "diplomatic toolbox."

“The 21st Century Dollar Act is a smart, bipartisan bill designed to ensure that the dollar remains the world’s foremost reserve currency,” Himes said.

The Boston Fed began studying the merits and possible technologies of a CBDC after Hill and Illinois Democratic Rep. Bill Foster previously wrote to the Fed asking whether the U.S. central bank was considering creating a digital dollar.