Daily Gold Market Report

State of Utah Rejects CBDCs:
Protects Sound Money

(USAGOLD – 3/19/2024) Gold prices are lower this morning.  Gold is trading at $2154.50, down $5.86. Silver is trading at $24.88, down 16 cents. On March 14, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed House Bill 164 into law, which excludes central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from the state’s definition of legal tender and money. This legislation, introduced by Rep. Tyler Clancy and sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Michael Kennedy, amends the Utah Specie Legal Tender Act and the state’s Uniform Commercial Code to clarify that CBDCs are not considered specie legal tender nor legal tender in Utah. The bill was overwhelmingly passed by the state legislature, with the Senate voting 27-1 and the House approving it 68-0. The law is set to take effect on May 1, 2024.

“Government-issued digital currencies are sold on the promise of providing a safe, convenient, and more secure alternative to physical cash. We’re also told it will help stop dangerous criminals who like the intractability of cash. But there is a darker side – the promise of control. At the root of the move toward government digital currency is “the war on cash.” The elimination of cash creates the potential for the government to track and even control consumer spending,” Michael Boldin of the Tenth Amendment Center concludes.