Government wants to regulate Bitcoin ‘out of existence’

Ron DeSantis, the current governor of Florida and the Republican presidential candidate, participated alongside Elon Musk in a Twitter Spaces session hosted by US entrepreneur and tech investor David Sacks on Thursday, May 25. 

During their conversation, DeSantis slammed the current President Joe Biden-led administration’s approach to treating Bitcoin (BTC), saying “they’ll probably end up killing it” if the current regulatory crackdown continues.

“Bitcoin represents a threat to them. They’re trying to regulate it out of existence.”

– Ron DeSantis said during the Twitter Spaces conversation.

“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.”

– he added.

This portion of the Twitter Spaces conversation was also shared by Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy and a longtime proponent of Bitcoin. Earlier this month, the billionaire described Bitcoin as the “king commodity.” Saylor’s rousing words for the leading cryptocurrency came after he warned that “money is dying everywhere in the world,” referring to the waning power of fiat currencies and rampant monetary inflation. 

DeSantis pledges to oppose anti-Bitcoin legislation

During their more than an hour-long conversation, DeSantis, Musk, and Sacks also touched upon the matter of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Notably, the 44-year-old governor said he would fight the anti-Bitcoin legislation in Congress and stressed his stance against CBDCs. His remarks came just weeks after he banned CBDCs in Florida, stating that the digital dollar risked the financial independence and privacy of business owners and citizens. 

Like over 100 global economies, the US Federal Reserve is also exploring the pros and cons of launching a CBDC to compete with China’s digital yuan. However, similar to DeSantis, a number of US representatives have opposed the idea of a digital dollar, labeling it as an instrument of expanded financial surveillance.