In a move that has sparked widespread debate, **Governor Roy Cooper** of North Carolina has exercised his veto power against a legislative bill that sought to prohibit the state from adopting a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Federal Reserve. This decision came despite the bill garnering overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
Governor Cooper, who has been at the center of controversy for what some deem a politically charged action, articulated his stance in a statement dated **June 5**. He characterized House Bill 690 as “premature, vague, and reactionary,” deeming it unfit for enactment at this time.
Attribution:
**Dan Spuller**
The veto was cast following a decidedly one-sided vote tallying at **109-4 in the House** and **39-5 in the Senate** towards the end of June. Considering the near-unanimous consensus, the North Carolina legislature possesses the numerical strength to overturn Governor Cooper’s veto with a three-fifths majority vote in both legislative bodies.
The governor’s veto has not been met with universal approval. “Governor Cooper’s veto does not reflect the will of the people of North Carolina,” stated Mitchell Askew, chief analyst at Blockware Solutions and a native of the state, in a conversation with Cointelegraph. Askew expressed disappointment over Cooper’s reluctance to transcend partisan divisions in favor of legislation that could potentially serve the interests of all citizens in the state.
In a similar vein, **Dan Spuller**, the head of industry affairs at the Blockchain Association, remarked that Governor Cooper’s veto represented a missed opportunity to assert North Carolina’s strong disapproval of a CBDC.
However, it’s important to note that Federal Reserve Chair **Jerome Powell** indicated in a March hearing before the federal Senate Banking Committee that the United States is “nowhere near recommending or let alone adopting a central bank digital currency in any form.”
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