The new bill signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis restricts the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the U.S. state, prohibiting the use of a United States federal CBDC “as money within Florida’s Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).”

The law also bans the use of CBDCs issued by foreign governments and is urging other states to follow suit with similar prohibitions. According to a news story by local media outlet Pensacola News Journal, DeSantis believes that if CBDCs were issued, it would effectively mean a massive transfer of power from consumers to a central authority.”

The bill signed by the Florida governor, which will take effect on July 1, introduced several changes within the state’s current commercial code which are intended to serve as protections for Floridians. DeSantis highlighted that introducing CBDCs in the state would represent a considerable threat to cryptocurrency: “I think they want to crowd out and eliminate other types of digital assets like cryptocurrency because they can’t control that, so they don’t like that.”

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/florida-governor-signs-cbdc-bill-into-law-restricting-some-uses-of-us-and-foreign-cbdcs

https://www.flgov.com/2023/05/12/governor-ron-desantis-signs-first-in-the-nation-legislation-to-protect-against-government-surveillance-of-personal-finances/

https://twitter.com/samuelarmes/status/1653761904169320448