Key Takeaways
- Rep. Warren Davidson warns that US crypto regulation is undermining Bitcoin’s vision.
- Davidson criticizes the GENIUS Act for favoring banks and enabling a ‘wholesale CBDC.’
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Rep. Warren Davidson warns that US crypto regulations, including the GENIUS Act and the pending CLARITY Act, are pushing digital assets into account-based systems that threaten Bitcoin’s original purpose of financial freedom, weaken self-custody, and open the door to greater surveillance through digital IDs and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The congressman, who recently introduced a bill that would allow US citizens to pay federal taxes using Bitcoin, shared his take on US crypto policy and the future of digital assets in a year-end post on Wednesday.
“Markets have stalled, in my opinion, because the disintermediation use case has been effectively destroyed in America,” Davidson wrote, attributing flat crypto markets to regulatory failures and legislative inaction.
Davidson criticized the GENIUS Act, enacted in 2025, for creating a stablecoin framework that favors banks through an account-based approach. He said the law blocks non-bank innovation, discourages self-custody, and “enables a wholesale CBDC” by design.
The congressman also expressed doubts about the CLARITY Act, claiming that while it might address gaps in GENIUS, it likely won’t go far enough to protect self-custody or individual freedom.
“Ultimately, if the Senate even passes a bill, I expect any nod to individual freedom will be cosmetic and pose no meaningful change to the account-based regime,” he noted.
Davidson added that the future of money, under these regulated conditions, appears permissioned and surveilled, which contrasts sharply with the foundational principles of crypto.
“The promise of Bitcoin was not an illiquid, inflating asset, but rather a permission-less, peer-to-peer payment system,” he wrote. “Account-based HODL dominance has led to some useful innovations, but they are highly threatened.”
Davidson predicted that governments and industry will push digital identity systems in which access to money is tied to a verified ID, a model that may appear free but in practice would enable greater surveillance and control.
He said the right to transact should be treated as a fundamental freedom and only restricted with probable cause, arguing that the US must either overturn legal doctrines that allow warrantless financial surveillance or rely on decentralized encryption systems like Bitcoin or Zcash to block it.
The Bitcoin supporter urged constituents to press Congress to ban central bank digital currencies, oppose digital ID mandates, and protect self-custody rights.