I didn’t grow up in a marble-columned building. I come from working-class Appalachian roots with folks who believed in hard work, local values, and keeping a close eye on those in power. I was the first in my family to go to college. I taught myself how to code, built a career in software and artificial intelligence, and now, as Indiana’s state treasurer, I wear cowboy boots not for show but because they remind me where I come from.
I may manage over $16 billion for the state of Indiana, but I’ve never forgotten who that money belongs to: the families, farmers, and small business owners of Indiana — especially in our rural towns, where folks wake up early, work hard, and still stop to check on neighbors. That’s who I serve. That’s who I’m fighting for when I say this: We must not let Washington take control of the dollar through a central bank digital currency.
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In today’s digital age, the public deserves a currency that protects freedom, not one that threatens it. A retail CBDC might sound convenient, but in practice, it could become a tool for federal surveillance, tracking every transaction in real time.
I built my career in digital innovation. I know how code can be misused. A CBDC’s underlying code could include restrictions such as expiration dates on funds or limits on certain purchases, enforced automatically without public oversight. These risks aren’t hypothetical. They’re real. Code can be written to monitor, restrict, or punish. A CBDC could track every purchase you make: when and where you buy it, and even limit how fast you spend your money.
Alex Gladstein reported in the Cato Journal that China’s CBDC allows “fine-grained” control over finances and the CCP could “more easily confiscate funds from political opponents.” That’s not science fiction. It’s reality.
Think it couldn’t happen here? Look at Operation Choke Point, in which federal agencies pressured banks to cut off services to industries like firearm companies without due process. Not to mention when the IRS targeted conservative nonprofit groups. A CBDC would make that kind of political discrimination easier, faster, and quieter.
Imagine giving the federal government a real-time view into your financial life, down to paying your babysitter or the teenager mowing your lawn. They’ll call it modernization. It’s micromanagement, plain and simple.
CBDC supporters argue it could streamline payments or reduce crime. However, the private sector can offer those benefits through innovations like blockchain-based stablecoins, without compromising privacy or local control. The risk of centralizing financial power far outweighs the conveniences.
Rural America gets hit the hardest. Small towns don’t have big national banks on every corner. They have local banks and credit unions, institutions that know your name, ask about your children, sponsor Little League, and lend when you’re planting crops or opening a shop. These banks are already under pressure. A retail CBDC incentivizes people to hold funds directly with the Federal Reserve, bypassing local banks and draining deposits from the institutions that small communities need. That threatens family farms, small businesses, and homebuyers in towns like ours.
As Indiana’s chief banker, I see the pressure firsthand. When local banks need deposits, they call my office. I prioritize them whenever I can. But the more Washington centralizes our financial system, the fewer options we have to keep money flowing in our communities. That’s bad for Hoosiers and for America.
This is why I support the principles of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. The public deserves financial freedom without government overreach. It puts up guardrails, ensures congressional oversight, and protects the role of private banks. While it recently passed in the House, the fight now continues in the Senate. Hoosiers and all Americans deserve a dollar that respects privacy. I’ll keep fighting for laws that defend that principle.
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As a conservative, I believe in liberty, not algorithmic control. Innovation should happen in the marketplace, not in the marble halls of the Federal Reserve. The dollar should remain the world’s reserve currency because it reflects freedom, trust, and competition, not centralized power.
Now is the time for conservatives and all Americans who value freedom to unite behind policies that keep the dollar free from bureaucratic overreach. Let’s build a digital future for the dollar the right way, rooted in free markets, accountability, and the values we hold dear in Indiana and across rural America.
Daniel Elliott is the Indiana state treasurer.