Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Proposes Banning Using CBDCs as Money

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

DeSantis has proposed legislation that would prohibit the use of both federal and foreign CBDC as money, and called on others states to do the same by adding such prohibitions to their uniform commercial codes, according to a Monday (March 20) press release.

“The Biden administration’s efforts to inject a Centralized Bank Digital Currency is about surveillance and control,” DeSantis said in the release. “Today’s announcement will protect Florida consumers and businesses from the reckless adoption of a ‘centralized digital dollar’ which will stifle innovation and promote government-sanctioned surveillance.”

The proposed legislation would prohibit the use of a federally adopted CBDC as money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code, prohibit any CBDC issued by a foreign reserve or foreign-sanctioned central bank, and call on other states to adopt similar prohibitions, according to the release.

A federally sanctioned CBDC would allow government bureaucrats to see consumer activity, enable them to cut off consumers’ access to goods and services, and would diminish the role of community banks and credit unions by making the currency a direct liability of the federal government, the release said.

“A Central Bank Digital Currency is the cornerstone of a federal government that could track each and every transaction that happens in the world,” State Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said in the release. “There would be no privacy, and if there is no privacy, there are no rights.”

This proposal comes about six months after the U.S. Treasury Department delivered a future of money white paper to the President Joe Biden Administration that had a great deal of space dedicated to the topic of what a U.S. CBDC would look like.

As PYMNTS reported Sept. 16, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made it clear that the Fed’s policy of working to build a CBDC before the decision to launch one is a top priority.

Six months before that, in March 2022, Biden said he would sign an executive order aimed at establishing a single, government-wide policy on cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

While making clear the decision to create a CBDC had not yet been made, the issue was the first priority mentioned.

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