US Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis Says Biden Govt. Would Kill Bitcoin, Vows to Protect It
On Wednesday, May 24, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launched his presidential campaign in a Twitter spaces event with Elon Musk. DeSantis shared his frank views over decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) such as the Digital Dollar.
This conversation saw massive participation with more than 300,000 users joining yesterday’s Twitter Spaces event. Expressing his support for Bitcoin, DeSantis said: "I think people should be able to do Bitcoin. As president, we'll protect the ability to do things like Bitcoin.”
The Florida Governor further lashed out at the current government stating that the Biden administration is looking to kill BTC. “You have every right to do Bitcoin. The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it is because they don’t control it,” he said.
This is not the first time that DeSantis has been openly advocating Bitcoins. He has done that in the past as well. While acknowledging the risks in the asset, DeSantis said that people should still be allowed to make their own decisions.
But DeSantis added: "I just do not have an itch to have to control everything that people may be doing in this space, and I think the current regime, clearly, they have it out for bitcoin, and if it continues for another four years, they'll probably end up killing it”.
On the other hand, the Florida Governor has been open enough to criticize the central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives stating that it is another tool for the lawmakers to get "control over society”. He added that by introducing CBDCs, the Biden government plans to weaponize the spending patterns of the people through surveillance of the CBDCs.
Earlier this month, Florida made the move to ban central bank digital currencies. DeSantis also said that he doesn’t believe that the US congress would authorize the use of CBDCs. “I don’t think Congress would authorize it (CBDC bill). We are trying to protect people from CBDCs in Florida. That would mean a huge imposition in people’s financial freedoms and financial privacy. If the central authority has control over it, they would start imposing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria,” he added.
Interestingly, Bitcoin (BTC) has become the hot top for contesting the US Presidential Election 2024. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also recently praised Bitcoin calling it an example of democracy and anathema to authoritarians.