Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled his economic plans this week, positioning himself as having perhaps the most aggressive stance on the twin issues of the Federal Reserve and cryptocurrency in the 2024 field. He said he will “reign in” the central bank and floated the idea of ousting Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before his term expires in 2026. DeSantis also offered more details around his stance on cryptocurrency, slamming the idea of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and defending the sector overall. “Biden’s war on bitcoin and cryptocurrency will come to an end when I become president,” he said.
DeSantis is aiming to pivot his campaign away from culture war issues to include a populist economic message, setting up a contrast with GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. Trump had appointed Powell to his seat atop the Fed in 2017 — before criticizing him for the rest of his term. Trump has also been skeptical of cryptocurrency over the years, saying in 2017 he was “not a fan” and adding in 2021 that bitcoin “seems like a scam” in a Fox Business interview.
On the Fed, DeSantis is among a range of contenders teasing major changes. Former Vice President Mike Pence and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy want to end the Fed’s dual mandate and focus solely on inflation. Ramaswamy has also discussed an idea to cut 90% of the staff at the Fed and recently wrote “I intend to make the 2024 presidential race in part a referendum on the proper role of our central bank.” Trump has of course had a complicated relationship with the Fed for awhile now. Trump railed against Powell for years but left office with little in the way of structural changes to show for it.
On crypto, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, running as a long-shot candidate on the GOP side, had previously aimed to make his city the “crypto capital of the world.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist running on the Democratic side, has also positioned himself as a strong crypto defender. Kennedy has floated a controversial idea of having the US buy bitcoin to underpin the value of the dollar and slammed the idea of a central bank digital currency, tweeting earlier this year it could “grease the slippery slope to financial slavery and political tyranny.” President Biden has taken a more nuanced approach to the two issues.
DeSantis is set to continue focusing on both crypto and the Fed on the campaign trail, underlining this week that he sees the idea of a CBDC as a threat. “On day one, CBDC goes into the trash can,” he said Monday. Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
