ECASH Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Electronic Currency And Secure Hardware Act or the ECASH Act
This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to support the development of an electronic dollar.
The electronic dollar must be
payable to the bearer;
considered legal tender;
an obligation of the United States;
placed into circulation by Treasury;
able to be directly used by the public; and
capable of instantaneous, offline transactions using hardware devices not involving a third-party intermediary.
The bill also provides for privacy requirements applicable to any hardware device used for electronic dollar transactions.
Merchants who accept physical currency and the federal government must accept electronic dollars as a form of payment.
The bill also establishes
the Electronic Currency Innovation Program to direct the development and implementation of electronic currency,
the Digital Dollar Council to coordinate Treasury's activities with other government entities, and
the Monetary Privacy Board to review and evaluate the electronic dollar program.
Finally, the bill provides for the establishment of a Treasury Electronic Currency Innovation Fund Account to carry out related programs.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 12, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 12, 2023: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Stephen Lynch (D-MA) introduced it on September 12, 2023, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 12, 2023, 1094 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1094 days ago, on September 12, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers