South Carolina Digital Asset Act (S.163)
United StatesLow threat- Introduced
- Passed Senate
- Passed House
- Became Law
Stage 4 of 4: Became Law
South Carolina has banned state agencies from accepting central bank digital currency and written protections for self-custody and mining into law.
Latest update
Signed by Governor McMaster; in force
What it does
Signed on May 19, 2026 after clearing the Senate 38 to 1 and the House 110 to 1, S.163 bars state entities from using or accepting a central bank digital currency. The same law protects the right to hold digital assets yourself, allows payment in digital assets, and shields mining operations. It took effect on signing.
What’s at stake
States have been legislating against a digital dollar while the federal ban stalls, and South Carolina joins a growing list. The vote is the interesting part, since near-unanimous margins in both chambers show how little resistance this idea meets at state level compared with the fight in Congress.
Our take
A state cannot stop the Federal Reserve from issuing anything, so the practical effect here is narrow. What it does do is remove the state as a customer, and enough states doing that makes a digital dollar harder to roll out than any speech in Congress would.
Timeline
Signed by Governor McMaster; in forceLatest
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