Speaking at a congressional hearing, Representative Warren Davidson (R‑OH) didn’t pull any punches when describing the Bank Secrecy Act. He said, “Over the decades, [the Bank Secrecy Act] has become a bloated surveillance machine demanding endless reports without delivering proportional results.”

Representative Davidson went on to point out that the Bank Secrecy Act’s “reporting thresholds have never been adjusted for inflation. $10,000, the initial threshold established in the 70s for [currency transaction reports], would be more than $80,000 today.”

Looking to the future, Representative Davidson also warned that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are the next step in financial surveillance and financial control. 

He ended his opening remarks with a powerful message about the need for change:

If we truly want to stop money laundering by the criminals, scammers, and terrorists of this century, not the last, it’s time we change course. … Put simply, we can continue to pile up reports on lawful activity, or we can exchange volume for actionable intelligence. It’s time to make this trade.

The congressman is correct on all counts.

The Bank Secrecy Act is a bloated surveillance machine. It forced banks to file 28 million reports on their customers last year. The $10,000 has never been adjusted for inflation—meaning that more transactions get reported each year as the dollar loses value. And a CBDC would take this surveillance to the next level by giving governments access to your money by default. 

As Representative Davidson often says, freedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed. But the tide is turning. More people are recognizing, each day, just how bloated and ineffective the Bank Secrecy Act has become, and more are seeing CBDCs for what they are: surveillance tools. The question now is which of Davidson’s colleagues will step up and join the fight to defend financial freedom.