by Andrew Powell
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure into law on Friday that bans the use of a central bank digital currency in the state of Florida and further bans the use of CBDCs issued from foreign government reserves and central banks, including China’s digital Yuan.
“I’m just glad we are thinking ahead here in the state of Florida because once this genie is out of the bottle, I think it will be very hard to put back in,” DeSantis said, adding that cash is king, and allows a person to control their own lives.
Senate Bill 7054 and its related bill House Bill 7049 allows virtual currencies like Bitcoin, but prohibits the use of both federal and foreign-owned CBDC as money.
A CBDC is defined in the legislation as a digital currency, 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 and processed or validated directly by such entities.
The U.S CBDC is still in development, but over 11 countries have already implemented their own CBDC and 18 other countries are currently running pilot programs. DeSantis stated that the use of CBDC threatens economic freedom, personal privacy, and access to goods and services by limiting purchases.
“If you’re relying on some digital system and you have no other recourse and it’s controlled by a central authority, you’re putting your independence in their hands,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis has already signed into law a measure that puts the clamps on environmental, social and governance in Florida. House Bill 3, sponsored by Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples, prevents financial institutions from discriminating against individuals for their political or religious beliefs and takes ESG policies out of financial decision-making.
DeSantis said unelected entities inside the private business sector use these ESG policies to push political ideologies, like climate change and social justice.
“In reality, that’s just a facade for using the private sector to enact a political left-wing agenda,” DeSantis said, adding that big corporations want to go after things like domestic energy production, and Second Amendment rights.
“That’s being done without any voters actually weighing in on it. These people aren’t elected to anything, but they’re really colluding to change policy and to try and change society.” DeSantis said.
DeSantis says ESG policies could be part of a social credit score system that could cut people off from being able to get finance, housing or even job opportunities, as an individual would “lose points” for certain actions that are not following ESG policy agendas. DeSantis noted that it could be as simple as filling up your car too often.
DeSantis says a Federal Reserve-owned CBDC could facilitate the use of social credit scores, which he says is not “conducive to freedom.”
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Andrew Powell is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Governor DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Use of Central Bank Currencies” by Governor Ron DeSantis.
