By
Bena Ilyas
May 7th, 2024
The Republican presidential candidate has remained anti-CBDC even in his current position having signed a bill to prohibit the use of CBDC in Florida.
The high adoption of digital assets in the United States is expected to play a crucial role in next year’s presidential election. Already, several presidential candidates have taken a stance on digital assets and the rollout of a Central Backed Digital Currency (CBDC). Furthermore, the digital asset economy is expected to run into more trillions of dollars in the coming years amid mainstream adoption. Moreover, institutional investors led by BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK) have shown increased interest in the digital asset industry to hedge against rising inflation.
However, the topic of CBDC has remained extra sensitive, especially regarding government censorship and the role of the Fed on people’s funds. Furthermore, several central banks including the Brazilian and Chinese have veered away from privacy-centric CBDC. Notably, these central banks have reserved the right to freeze users’ digital currencies in a bid to remain in control.
DeSantis Calls against CBDC Roll Out
According to the Current Florida Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, the CBDC rollout is not the future of American history. Notably, DeSantis highlighted at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa last Friday that he will revert any move to roll out a dollar digital currency in the United States as soon as he is in power.
“Done, dead, not happening in this country,” said DeSantis. “If I am the president, on day one, we will nix central bank digital currency.”
On the contrary, DeSantis has been supportive of the adoption of Bitcoin among other crypto assets describing them as a threat to the current regime. Moreover, the Biden administration has tried to use all its machinery to ban crypto assets to no avail. For instance, the US SEC has indicated that most crypto assets have been opening without proper securities registration. However, the recent SEC vs Ripple summary judgment has significantly vindicated the crypto community in the country.
Interestingly, some lawmakers have argued that the recent SEC vs Ripple judgment ruling should be passed into law. In that case, crypto assets could be classified either as a security or commodity depending on the circumstance and nature of transactions.
Mid-March this year, DeSantis announced comprehensive legislation to protect Floridians from the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Furthermore, DeSantis argued that CBDCs will diminish the role of community banks and credit unions in our financial system, which would hurt many enterprises in the country.
“The Biden administration’s efforts to inject a Centralized Bank Digital Currency is about surveillance and control,” DeSantis noted. “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.”