The Florida legislature passed a bill Wednesday that effectively bans any central bank digital currency (CBDC) from being used in the state. 

The new policy says CBDCs issued by any country will not meet Florida’s definition of money. The provision rejects a specific part of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a widely adopted piece of model legislation updated by the American Law Institute and the Uniform Law Commission.

Certain 2022 amendments to the UCC have rankled cryptocurrency proponents because they put all privately created crypto outside the legal definition of money. Under the updated meaning, a CBDC is the only type of digital asset that meets the UCC standard.

In March, the Biden administration announced it would assess the benefits and risks of issuing such a currency.

Governor Ron DeSantis responded to this announcement with a plan to ban CBDCs in Florida. The bill passed in both houses of the state legislature with overwhelming majorities and now requires only the governor’s signature to become law.

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