Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Runs for President, Promises To Protect Bitcoin

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Sarah Wynn

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Sarah Wynn

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June 26, 2023 06:53 EDT

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U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis promised to protect bitcoin when announcing his bid for presidency this week. 

DeSantis announced his run for president during a Twitter space on Wednesday, hosted in part by billionaire Elon Musk. 

“As president, we will protect the ability to do things like bitcoin,” DeSantis said. “I think these are people that are sophisticated, they can make decisions. There are risks involved with it, but let them do that.”

Regulators such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have pursued enforcement actions against crypto firms over the past year, and lawmakers are working on possible legislation to regulate the space. 

“I think that the current regime, clearly, they have it out for bitcoin,” DeSantis said. 

DeSantis is also running on issues such as shutting down the border to immigrants, and pushing against “unconstitutional covid vax mandates” and “woke ideology,” among others, according to his website.

Not a fan of CBDCs

Notably, the Florida governor is not the biggest fan of central bank digital currencies.

DeSantis signed a bill earlier this month banning the use of CBDCs in his state, which he called the “first-in-the-nation.”

It also prohibits the use of CBDCs issued by other governments and calls on other states to use their commercial codes to institute similar prohibitions.

“Biden’s Central Bank Digital Currency aims to increase government control over people’s finances, and we will not allow it. In Florida, we value personal freedom and won’t allow self-interested elites to chip away at our liberty,” DeSantis said in a statement on May 12. 

The Federal Reserve is exploring the benefits and risks of a CBDC, but central bank officials have said that no decision has been made yet.

“I can tell you, if I’m president, we’re not doing a central bank digital currency. I think that would be a huge, huge imposition on people’s financial freedoms and financial privacy,” DeSantis said on Wednesday.