Republican governor Ron DeSantis hopes to install a blanket ban on federal central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) imposed on Florida. In a press release, DeSantis accused the Biden Administration of creating a CBDC for “surveillance and control.”
He added: “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. Florida will not side with economic central planners; we will not adopt policies that threaten personal economic freedom and security.”
Jimmy Patronis, State Chief Financial Officer, added that DeSantis was “ahead of the curve” in “protecting individual rights.”
He added: “A Central Bank Digital Currency is the cornerstone of a federal government that could track each and every transaction that happens in the world. There would be no privacy, and if there is no privacy, there are no rights. In the same way Florida is fighting back against the IRS, we need to fight back against this program. It’s how we protect freedom, liberty, and prosperity.”
Furthermore, Tarren Bragdon, chief executive for the Foundation for Government Accountability, added that the proposal continued the “strong track record of [DeSantis] pushing back on an overreaching federal government.”
Explaining further, he said: “Our money says In God We Trust. The central bank digital currency changes that to In Government We Trust. That’s wrong and I am grateful for the Governor’s continued pushback of an out-of-control DC bureaucracy.”
DeSantis’ proposal called on further state governments to adopt similar legislation to tackle alleged threats from CBDCs. Roughly 18 states have proposed to fight Biden’s “ESG financial fraud,” it added.
The announcement comes amid a series of measures DeSantis has taken to “prevent the proliferation of woke ideology in the financial sector and American daily living,” the statement concluded.
