Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is vowing to prohibit the use of any central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the sunshine state should the US government issue one.
In a new speech at a law signing event, the potential 2024 US presidential candidate warns that CBDC is an infringement on people’s financial privacy and would also be used to try and block cryptocurrency.
“The danger of the digital currency is, is that, one, they want to make that the sole currency. They want to get rid of crypto. My view is, if you want to invest in crypto, it’s up to you. You can do it. You can make those decisions. But they don’t like crypto because they can’t control crypto.
So they want to put everything in a central bank digital currency. And I guarantee you if they’re able to ever get away with that, they will impose ESG (environmental, social and governance standards) and social credit scores onto that. And that’s going to be a huge reduction in freedom for people in this country.”
Last year, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order for the federal government to study the possibility of creating a central bank digital dollar. DeSantis is vowing to pass legislation to ban CBDCs from being used as money in Florida if it is ever issued by the US government.
“I don’t think Congress would authorize it. But if the Fed or the Treasury tries to do it unilaterally, in Florida we’ll have a prohibition against that. And I think that that’s ensuring your financial independence and making sure that we don’t have a financial surveillance state where they know every transaction that that you’re making. I think that that’s fundamentally wrong. We’re recognizing the dangers with this agenda.”
Last month, DeSantis announced proposed legislation that would enact the CBDC ban.
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