von • Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed legislation banning the use of a central bank digital currency in the state.
• The law will come into effect on July 1, 2023 and prohibits the use of federally adopted CBDCs as money.
• Governor DeSantis is urging other politicians and states to take a stand against CBDCs, although not everyone is on board with this decision.
On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis put pen to paper and signed into law a bill that officially bans the use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the state. The bill, known as SB 7054 or HB 7049, was approved by the Florida House of Representatives and Senate and will come into effect on July 1, 2023. The signing ceremony, which took place in Fort Myers, was attended by Wilton Simpson, the state’s 13th commissioner of agriculture, and Kathleen Passidomo, president of the Southwest Florida Public Service Academy at Fort Myers Technical College.
The anti-CBDC law explicitly forbids the use of a federally adopted CBDC as money, and Governor DeSantis has urged other politicians and states to follow Florida’s example by taking a stand against CBDCs. During the signing ceremony, he noted that with the use of CBDCs, governments could potentially have control over how people spend their money, and even block them from making certain purchases if they wanted to.
However, not everyone is on board with this decision. Nobel laureate and Keynesian economist Paul Krugman criticized Governor DeSantis, stating that it’s “highly unlikely that a state can prevent the federal government from introducing a CBDC”. He added that such a move could be a “huge mistake”, as it could make it even harder for the US to compete with China in the digital currency space.
Regardless, the new law is now in effect and Florida has put the brakes on the use of CBDCs in the state. It remains to be seen whether other states will follow Florida’s example and take similar actions to prevent the adoption of a central bank digital currency.
