Florida leads the charge against CBDCs

State lawmakers in Florida have introduced bills that would ban the use of federal and foreign CBDCs. In March, Gov. Ron DeSantis called on lawmakers to introduce such legislation to prevent the abuse of CBDCs to control or surveil people. Senate Bill 7054 and the related House Bill 7049 would amend the definition of money and introduce the definition of a CBDC under the US Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which is adopted as state law. The bills would prevent the use of digital currencies backed by governments but allow the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which are decentralized. Related: Biden signals plan to destroy financial anonymity with CBDCs The bills define a CBDC as a digital currency, digital monetary unit, or digital medium of exchange issued by the US Federal Reserve, federal agency, foreign central bank or reserve, or foreign government made directly available to consumers and directly processed or validated by said entities. An analysis of SB 7054 on the Florida Senate’s website notes that 11 countries, including China, have fully implemented a CBDC while 18 others are piloting CBDC programs. In the US, a CBDC is in the development phase. The introduction of both bills came after DeSantis called for legislation to prevent the use of CBDCs in the Sunshine State. He argued that the Biden administration was pushing for a digital currency to use as a tool to control and surveil people. The US Federal Reserve recently tweeted that a central bank digital currency would not be…Florida leads the charge against CBDCs