Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced that he is officially accepting Bitcoin for his presidential campaign donations. Crypto-Friendly Mayer from Miami On Friday, August 4, Miami Mayer and Republican candidate for the 2024 Presidential Election, Francis Suarez, confirmed that his campaign would be accepting donations in Bitcoin. He clarified that his supporters can donate as little as 0.00034 BTC, equivalent to $1, at his website. "Officially, my campaign is accepting Bitcoin," Suarez announced. "This is a process of developing technologies that are going to create democratizing opportunities for wealth creation and are not manipulated by a human being's ulterior motives, political goals, etc." Suarez heavily criticized the Biden administration for its approach towards cryptocurrencies which involves regulation through enforcement, without understanding the mechanisms of digital assets or setting clear rules. "The biggest mistake that this administration has made is they don't understand crypto so they have gone to a regulated-by-enforcement mechanism as opposed to set the ground rules," Suarez explained. "You have to be able to classify certain digital products, you have to be able to have certain guidelines and rules that are clear with respect to the custody of assets." The candidate also declared that, if elected the President, he would ban the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDC): "Nobody wants the federal government knowing where you have your money and how much money you have ... I don't think that there's anything particularly innovative about that." Francis Suarez announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential race in June 2023. He argued that the country needs a president who understands how cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies work. Miami Mayer has long been a supporter of Bitcoin and digital assets in general. He already launched his own cryptocurrency MiamiCoin (MIA) in 2021, and promised to make Miami a Bitcoin hub. Presidential Candidates Against CBDC Francis Suarez is not the only presidential hopeful who spoke out against CBDCs. The governor of Florida and presidential candidate for the Republican party, Ron DeSantis, criticized the Federal Reserve’s new payments system, FedNow, and said that the Biden administration’s efforts towards launching a CBDC are “about surveillance and control”. Both Ron DeSantis and another presidential hopeful of the Democratic party, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., implied they would not support the launch and use of a CBDC in the country. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently confirmed the purchase of BTC for his children, even though he had earlier denied investment in the digital currency. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders and Democratic Senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Bob Casey, and Richard Blumenthal, are urging the Biden administration to initiate a crackdown on “crypto tax evaders”. Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
