The US Republican Party’s latest leadership candidate has stated he is a cryptocurrency supporter. 

During his presidential campaign launch, Ron DeSantis, speaking on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, said: “The current regime, clearly, has it out for Bitcoin. And if it continues for another four years, they’ll probably end up killing it.”

The campaign launch, described as “ground-breaking” by Musk, was the first time a major candidate had unveiled their run for the White House on social media, yet the platform suffered a series of technical difficulties for around 20 minutes. 

When the livestream got underway, DeSantis said he sees crypto as a question of civil liberties, CoinDesk reports. As the governor of Florida, he penned legislation banning the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) within the state. 

“I just do not have the itch to have to control everything that people may be doing in this space. Bitcoin represents a threat to them; they’re trying to regulate it out of existence,” he went on to say.

“As president, we’ll protect the ability to do things like Bitcoin,” adding that “there’s risks involved with it,” but those interested in the cryptocurrency “are sophisticated” and “can make decisions. You have every right to do Bitcoin. The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it is because they don’t control it.”

During the launch, DeSantis was insistent on Congressional authorisation for a CBDC, pledging to circumvent it during his potential presidency over possible misuse fears to sway politically unfavourable purchases, the CoinDesk report adds. 

In addition, Samuel Armes, president of the Florida Blockchain Business Association – that helped to outline DeSantis’ anti-CBDC bill - said in a recent interview that DeSantis’ office had received more enquiries regarding CBDCs than any other topics. 

Furthermore, according to a recent poll by Quinnipiac University, DeSantis continues to lag behind Donald Trump among Republican and Republican-leaning voters—56% support Trump and 25% for DeSantis.