Florida Governor Proposes $700,000 Allocation to Promote Crypto-Friendly State

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made a set of proposals that include allowing businesses to pay fees in crypto.

A new budget proposal suggests $700,000 to promote a crypto-friendly Florida. Including a $200,000 allocation to the Department of Financial Services to give businesses in the state the ability to pay directly via crypto.

“$200,000 for the Department of Financial Services to offer Florida corporations the ability to pay state fees via cryptocurrency directly to the Department of State. Florida encourages cryptocurrency as a means of commerce and furthering Florida’s attractiveness to businesses and economic growth.”

Another half-million dollars is proposed to be allocated to explore a new blockchain-based system for maintaining records pertaining to motor vehicles and Medicaid.

According to the budget highlights, $250,000 would go to support what the state calls its “Blockchain Title Pilot Program" within the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

“The purpose of the pilot program is to evaluate potential concepts, designs, and technologies to maintain and make available certificates of motor vehicle title through blockchain technology, and to determine the feasibility of providing to the public a permanent option to obtain or transfer certificates of title using blockchain technology.”

Another $250,000 is suggested to explore something similar for Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, which aims to use blockchain technology to “authenticate Medicaid transactions and identify potential Medicaid fraud.”

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At the city level, Miami mayor Francis Suarez has spearheaded the push to make Bitcoin and crypto politically mainstream. Aside from requesting his paychecks in BTC, Suarez has also come out with Miamicoin, which he says has already earned the city tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Miami citizens are also able to stake Miamicoin and receive a yield in Bitcoin.

“Why are we making such an emphasis on Bitcoin? We’re seeing inflation at over 6% which I think is an underreporting of inflation, and we see the price of Bitcoin surging, it clear that people are taking their money out of dollars, and putting in a currency and in a store of value that they feel confident in because it’s not driven by people who manipulate it for their own policy ends.”