DeSantis Campaigns on Pro-Bitcoin, Anti-CBDC Message

Newly announced Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis claimed that the crypto industry would be doomed if President Biden is reelected

article-image

Igor Y Eros/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida declared his candidacy for the US presidency during a Twitter Spaces conversation alongside CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks on Wednesday.

In a broad conversation marked by technical difficulties, there were extended periods of silence and occasional hurried whispers. But amidst these challenges, DeSantis did manage to address his position on cryptocurrencies and digital assets, providing answers to those curious about his stance.

During the conversation, which attracted an audience of some 2.6 million, he expressed his endorsement of bitcoin (BTC) and portrayed the attempts made by his opponents to regulate cryptocurrency as unwarranted government interference.

“The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it is because they don’t control it,” DeSantis said in response to a question about his views on the currency posed by Sacks. 

“They’re central planners and they want to have control over society and so bitcoin represents a threat to them,” he added.

The SEC under the Biden administration has pursued a series of enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies in the last year.

Governor DeSantis also made it clear that he would strongly stand against any potential attempt by Congress to ban bitcoin, although the prospect has never seriously been considered.

Technically, it’s no more possible to ban bitcoin than it is to ban a global commodity like gold — all the US government could do would be to ban itself and its citizens from making use of Bitcoin.

DeSantis is considered a top rival to Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, although he currently lags behind the former US president by a significant margin of over 30 percentage points in early polls.

Trump’s general view on crypto has been negative, although policy-wise, little happened during his presidency. Both he and his wife Melania have launched NFT collections since leaving the White House.

“I as president will protect the ability to do things like bitcoin,” DeSantis said. “I just do not have an itch to have to control everything that people may be doing in this space.”

He added that the Biden administration has clear hostility towards cryptocurrencies and that if it stays in power for another four years, “they’ll probably end up killing it,” without putting forward any theory on how.

Sacks agreed with him and acknowledged the large crypto community on Twitter, while Musk chimed in to mention the presence of a similar audience for dogecoin (DOGE).

Relatedly, DeSantis mentioned that he is not in favor of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). He highlighted that Florida recently banned the use of government issued digital dollars as a form of money in the state.

“If I’m President, we are not doing a central bank digital currency,” he said regarding the potential implementation of a CBDC on a national level. “I think that that would be a huge, huge imposition on people’s financial freedoms and financial privacy.”

He expressed that CBDCs would result in a significant shift of power from individual consumers to a central authority, and that this would be detrimental to a free society.

DeSantis has previously defended efforts in Florida school districts to ban books from libraries over the objections of advocates for literary freedoms.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from Blockworks Research’s Daily Debrief.


Can’t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible. Join us on Telegram and follow us on Google News.


Tags

upcoming event

MON - WED, MARCH 18 - 20, 2024

Digital Asset Summit (DAS) is returning March 2024. This year’s event will be held in our nation’s capital, where industry leaders, policymakers, and institutional experts will come together to discuss the latest developments and challenges in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency. […]

upcoming event

MON - WED, SEPT. 11 - 13, 2023

2022 was a meme.Skeptics danced, believers believed.Eventually, newcomers turned away, drained of liquidity and hope.Now, the tide is shifting and it’s time to rebuild. Permissionless II is the brainchild of Blockworks and Bankless. It’s not just a conference, but a call […]

recent research

The State of LSTFi

Research

There are five broad use cases for LSTs that are gaining traction alongside growth in demand: leverage farming, liquidity providing, LST baskets, stablecoin collateral, and interest rate derivatives.

/

article-image

Alexander Vinnik’s lawyers aim to swap his freedom for detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

article-image

This latest update will introduce immutability to token metadata but ensure that its key characteristics are preserved, and it will also introduce network fees

article-image

In a blog post, partly directed at the forthcoming Eigenlayer protocol, the Ethereum co-founder cautions against overloading consensus

article-image

Hunting for victims in Ethereum’s public mempool, automated searchers prey on transactions as they are discovered in a practice called MEV

article-image

The crypto exchange that filed for bankruptcy last November would endure a long road to raise funds, clear debts and gain trust, law pros say

article-image

The broadcasters were discussing Hong Kong’s new regulations for virtual asset trading platforms set to go into effect June 1