DeSantis Talks Crypto Freedom as Bitcoin Price Rises After Debt Ceiling Deal

AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

The two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, have recovered from low values following last year’s FTX scandal and industry fears sparked by a leaked Democrat memo signaling a regulatory crackdown. The crypto market crash resulted in $2 trillion in losses and resulted in crypto companies exploring more favorable regulatory jurisdictions overseas. Bitcoin’s price has experienced growth in the first half of 2023, but still stalls behind the record highs of late 2021. 

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Fears of the Biden admin’s war on crypto are in the spotlight again, a matter Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke of on Wednesday during his Presidential campaign launch on Twitter Spaces alongside Chief Twit Elon Musk. DeSantis said:

I think that the [Biden] regime, clearly they have it out for Bitcoin, and if it continues for another four years, you know, they’ll probably end up killing it.

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Musk, who has engaged in stirring bull runs on crypto, has recently distanced himself from being seen as an advisor to anyone’s financial decisions. Earlier this week in a virtual summit appearance, Musk gave a warning against buying crypto, saying:

I’m not advising anyone to buy crypto or bet the farm on Dogecoin. Maybe you should, but let me advise you that would be perhaps unwise.

Musk added that Dogecoin was originally created as a “joke,” but is still his favorite cryptocurrency because it has “the best humor” and “it has dogs.” Dogecoin crashed harder than Bitcoin and Ethereum, losing 90% of its top value. In April, Musk made good on a commitment he made prior to acquiring Twitter by updating its logo to feature the Shiba Inu dog breed associated with Dogecoin. This move briefly boosted the price of Dogecoin by 20 percent.

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Last year, President Joe Biden issued a lengthy executive order directing federal agencies to develop a comprehensive regulatory plan for the crypto market. Additionally, during the G7 meeting in Japan, Biden stated that he would not support a debt ceiling deal that benefits crypto traders, calling them “tax cheats,” which further escalated the growing regulatory concerns. Biden said:

I’m not going to agree to a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistance at risk for nearly a hundred, well, I should mean, one million Americans.

Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, has been uncharacteristically quiet on the issue of cryptocurrency regulation. During his four years in office, Trump only mean-tweeted once about crypto. In 2019 he wrote:

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.

In his campaign launch, DeSantis claimed that Bitcoin poses a threat to those within the Biden administration who seek control over everything, saying:

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

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With the announcement of a debt ceiling agreement between House Speaker McCarthy and President Biden on Saturday, and traditional stock markets closed for the holiday weekend, cryptocurrency prices best indicate the market response. Bitcoin prices rose 1.3 percent in the early hours on Sunday, climbing back above the $27,000 mark, while other coins such as Ethereum and Dogecoin also saw rises. 

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