DeSantis Accuses Biden of 'War on Bitcoin,' Vows to Stop It if Elected President

Presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) called out the Biden Administration for its “war” on bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies and vowed to end it should he become President.

“Biden's war on bitcoin and cryptocurrency will come to an end when I am president,” he said at a Monday campaign event in New Hampshire. “We are going to allow Americans to invest in things like bitcoin and cryptocurrency. No one is forcing you to do it, if you want to do it, you can do it.”

DeSantis is likely referring to the recent charges brought against crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Although SEC commissioners are appointed by the President, the agency is independent from the government.

Biden's record itself on crypto is murky and leaves a lot to interpretation. He's taken almost no direct actions on the industry apart from guiding his regulatory agencies to study it and come up with ways to oversee the sector. DeSantis has accused Biden in the past of pushing for a digital dollar, but his administration hasn't yet taken a position on issuing a central bank digital currency.

Read more: Florida’s DeSantis Waging Toothless Campaign Against Digital Dollars, Lawyers Say

DeSantis has struggled to catch up to former President Donald Trump in the early days of the presidential contest, and he's sometimes used digital assets issues to highlight one of the divisions between his pro-crypto views and Trump's past skepticism.

Though DeSantis has generally been considered Trump's chief rival for the Republican nomination, a recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed DeSantis is trailing Trump's 54% to 17% among likely Republican voters.