Florida’s current governor, Ron DeSantis, announced he is going to run for the 2024 United States presidency. He shared the announcement on Twitter Space with Elon Musk and wrapped up the remarks on cryptocurrency.
🚀 Exciting News!
🌟 Governor Ron DeSantis announces his bid for U.S. president, championing #crypto and defending our civil liberties.
He believes #Bitcoin is under threat from the current regime, vowing to protect its future! 🗽 #DeSantis2024 #Cryptocurrency #DeFi
— Walletor (@walletorapp) May 25, 2023
On May 24, the CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, joined DeSantis and about 520,000 live listeners on a Twitter broadcast to hear his announcement. David Sacks, a venture capitalist, moderated the broadcast.
DeSantis said, “As president, we’ll protect the ability to do things like Bitcoin.” Moreover, he noted that “there’s risks involved with it,” but the users interested in cryptocurrency “are sophisticated” and “can make decisions.”
“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,” said DeSantis.
Furthermore, DeSantis called upon the “central planners” on Capitol Hill who “want to have control over society.”
“Bitcoin represents a threat to them, so they’re trying to regulate it out of existence,” he noted.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2023
In addition, Florida’s current governor also remarked on the jurisdictional fight that the Securities and Exchange Commission is having over regulating cryptocurrencies.
Gary Gensler, the chair in charge of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has claimed for a long time now that his office has authority over crypto.
DeSantis said that because Congress “never addressed” cryptocurrencies, “the bureaucracy” (referring to the SEC) had “to just do it on their own.” In addition, they have to make it so “that people can not operate in that space.”
“I just don’t have an itch to have to control everything that people may be doing in this space, and I think that the current regime — clearly they have it out for Bitcoin.”
He also said that if President Joe Biden is elected again for another four years in 2024, he “probably end up killing it” (referring to cryptocurrencies). DeSantis seems to not like the way Biden regulates crypto under his administration.
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)
In early May, DeSantis passed a bill on anti-central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Florida. This bill prohibits the use of government CBDC as money. Moreover, it also makes it illegal to use CBDCs from other countries.
The United States elections are still far away; they will occur in November 2024. At the first GOP presidential primary debate of the 2024 cycle, which is set to happen in August, DeSantis is expected to face off against former President Donald Trump and others.
Other people running for the White House have come out in support of the cryptocurrency. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic presidential candidate, said that Bitcoin is a “symbol of democracy and freedom” at the Bitcoin 2023 conference.
Kennedy was also the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin. Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy followed the same, just a few days later.
