Florida Will ‘Never Recognize a Centralized Digital Currency,’ DeSantis’ Office Says

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hawks his book at a book tour speech in Smyrna, Ga., on March 30, 2023. (Phil Mistry/The Epoch Times.)

Florida will “never recognize a centralized digital currency” in the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said on April 11, one day after state lawmakers proposed legislation that would ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from being used.

DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin made the comments in a post on Twitter, where he said that CBDCs are “critical to big government and globalist agendas.”

Griffin shared an image alongside his post that states that “Biden bureaucrats are working to further weaponize the financial sector” through such a digital currency that will ultimately serve as “another way of increasing surveillance and control of Americans.”

The post goes on to state that CBDCs threaten personal privacy, economic freedom, community financial institutions, fintech innovation, and access to goods and services by limiting purchases.

He noted that the legislation introduced by Florida lawmakers on April 10 will specifically prohibit the use of federally sanctioned CBDCs as money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code while also banning CBDCs issued by foreign government reserves and central banks, including China’s Digital Yuan.

Fed Says ‘No Decision Made’ on CBDC

House Bill 7049 (pdf), introduced by Rep. Wyman Duggan, a Republican, defines CBDCs as a “digital medium of exchange, or a digital monetary unit of account issued by the United States Federal Reserve System, a federal agency, a foreign government, a foreign central bank, or a foreign reserve system, that is made directly available to a consumer by such entities.”

The legislation also revises the definition of the term “money” to mean a medium of exchange that is “currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government” under Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code.

The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an intergovernmental organization or by agreement between two or more countries but explicitly excludes a CBDC from that definition in Florida, effectively banning its use in the state.

Senate Bill 7054 (pdf), introduced by the Committee on Banking and Insurance, provides similar definitions of CBDCs and money, preventing both federal and foreign-owned central bank digital currencies from being used in the state.

Both bills would still allow cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin—which are not issued or backed by a government entity and through which transactions are conducted through a decentralized blockchain—to be used in the Sunshine State.

The comments from DeSantis’ press secretary came after the Federal Reserve said on Twitter on April 10 that it had “made no decision on issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)” and would not do so “without clear support from Congress and the executive branch, ideally in the form of a specific authorizing law.”

The central bank also noted that a CBDC would not replace cash or other payment options.

Republicans Share CBDC Concerns

Responding to the post, DeSantis said that “it is not merely ‘ideal’ that major policy changes receive specific authorization from Congress” but that it is constitutionally required.

“Unaccountable institutions cannot impose a CBDC on Americans. They will tell us that CBDC won’t be abused but we are wise enough to know better,” the Republican, who is widely expected to declare his candidacy for president, said.

According to the Bank Policy Institute, the Federal Reserve does not have the legal authority to issue a CBDC without congressional authorization, and any authority it did have would first need to be given the green light by the Treasury Department.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times last month, a spokesperson for the Federal Reserve said the central bank had made no decisions on whether to pursue a central bank digital currency and that such a currency is still in the research phase.

The spokesperson also pointed to a January 2022 press release regarding a discussion paper examining the pros and cons of a potential U.S. central bank digital currency, which notes that the paper “does not favor any policy outcome.”

DeSantis is not the only senior figure to raise concerns over CBDCs.

In March, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz introduced new legislation that would ban the Federal Reserve from launching a “direct-to-consumer” CBDC citing concerns over its potential to be used as a “financial surveillance tool” by the federal government.

Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are co-sponsors of that bill.

According to the Atlantic Council, 11 countries have now fully implemented a CBDC including the Bahamas, Jamaica, Nigeria, and eight Eastern Caribbean countries, while 18 others are currently running pilot programs for CBDC, including China, Russia, Iran, and Australia.