“Citizens Have Every Right To Do Bitcoin”: Ron De Santis Announces Presidential Bid

Florida Governor Ron De Santis has officially announced that he’s entering the United States 2024 Presidential race, poised to be former President Donald Trump’s greatest opponent within the Republican primary. 

Unlike Trump, De Santis has pushed pro-crypto policy multiple times in the past and is staunchly opposed to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

De Santis Would Protect Bitcoin

De Santis announced his plans to run in a Twitter Spaces alongside the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, on Wednesday. Musk has expressed regret for voting for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, but also wasn’t interested in Trump since he desired a “normal person for president.”

Both Musk and De Santis found common ground in their opposition to “woke” ideology, and their support for free speech. They also happen to both be crypto-friendly, while Trump has repeatedly called Bitcoin a “scam.”

When asked about his view on crypto’s regulatory situation in the United States, De Santis said that citizens have “every right to do Bitcoin,” and would oppose any statute to ban its use. 

“As President, we’ll protect the ability to do things like Bitcoin,” said De Santis. “I just do not have the itch to control everything that people may be doing in this space.”

De Santis echoed comments from other crypto-supportive Republicans in agreeing that the Biden Administration is attempting to kill the crypto industry in the United States through regulation. After a string of regulators’ enforcement actions against exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and crypto-supportive banks, firms like Coinbase are desperate for clarity on the rules of the road surrounding crypto in the United States. 

“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,” he added.

At Bitcoin Miami 2023 last week, Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy pledged to protect citizens’ “inviolable right” to hold and use Bitcoin. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is himself a Bitcoin believer, believing it provides advantages over the fiat currency system. 

No CBDCs for De Santis

By contrast, the Biden White House has expressed interest in implementing a potential CBDC to “bring the U.S. financial infrastructure into the digital era… without the risks or irrational exuberance brought by crypto assets.”

Similar to Republic Congressmen Tom Emmer and Ted Cruz, De Santis is outright opposed to CBDCs. He introduced legislation in March to ban any such technology from being used in Florida. 

“I see it as a massive transfer of power from individual consumers to a central authority, and I don’t think that’s good for a free society,” he said.

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