Florida lawmakers this week introduced legislation aimed at regulating stablecoins in the Sunshine State.
Lawmakers on Friday passed Senate Bill 314 in a single voice vote in the state Senate. The bill would require stablecoin issuers in Florida to be licensed by the Office of Financial Regulation.
“(The bill) aims to integrate state oversight with federal standards, particularly the Genius Act, to ensure consumer protection and financial stability,” Republican Sen. Colleen Burton said Friday.
DeSantis pro-crypto program
The bill now goes to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature.
If approved, Florida would be the first state to have its own symptom management regulation.
DeSantis is a pro-crypto politician: The Republican has said in the past that he would defend Bitcoin when he runs for president, and made Florida the first state to ban central bank digital currency — or CBDC — after claiming that they have “woke up” and are “removing and destroying other types of digital assets, like cryptocurrencies.”
More stablecoin setup
Stablecoins have been a hot topic since President Trump signed the Genius Act last year to regulate tokens.
The bill would allow banks and other entities to issue stablecoins if they back the tokens with assets such as US Treasuries and make monthly disclosures about their reserves.
However, bank executives and crypto executives are at odds over the way forward with asset regulation in another piece of legislation: the Clarity Act.
Companies like Coinbase want legislation to allow companies in the space to pay customers a premium on their stablecoin holdings; banks have said that such practices should be banned or they could lose their deposits as their customers move to crypto.
President Trump came out in support of the digital asset industry this week, saying banks should not be allowed to undermine the pro-crypto agenda.
Matthew Di Salvo is a reporter for DL News. Do you have any advice? Email at (email protected).
