Bitcoin’s efforts were led by Rep. Webster Barnaby of R-Deland in the Florida House of Representatives. Obviously, the man is not a Trump University alumni.
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Palm Beach Post
Congratulations to Florida lawmakers for not being an easy mark in President Donald Trump’s Bitcoin scheme.
When Trump issued an executive order that created a strategic Bitcoin reserve in March, he called volatile cryptocurrencies “digital gold,” covering it with a lot of hyperbolic rhetoric that guarantees the short-term profits of existing investors.
“The US government currently owns a significant amount of BTC (Bitcoin), but does not implement any policies to maximize BTC’s strategic position as a unique and valuable reservoir in the Global Financial System,” the executive order reads.
“Just as our nation’s interest is to carefully manage the national ownership and control of other resources, our nation must utilize, rather than limit, the power of our digital assets for our prosperity.”
Florida had Bitcoin bills. Failed.
And, like a magical example, Congress, accepted by Trump across the country, began pushing bills that called for state funds to invest in Bitcoin.
That effort in the Florida House of Representatives was led by Rep. Webster Barnaby of R-Deland. He wrote a bill that would allow states to invest up to 10% of their funds in state retirement trust funds, general funds, and other Bitcoin funds.
Speaking to the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee last month, Burnaby told members to put the fear of cryptocurrency aside and put their faith in Trump.
“It’s a new day. It’s a new rise. We’re embarking on the golden age of the United States,” Burnaby said.
“We’re doing the consequential, representative things. You can’t stand out, but we need to trust… I’ve done my research and I can sincerely convey that I believe in the President of the United States.”
(The sound you hear behind your head is a faint blaze of a lamb.)
Obviously, the man is not a Trump University alumni.
As for the research, we start by paying attention to Trump’s disbanding the national cryptocurrency enforcement team while Trump mercilessly sells his $Trump memocoin and his son Don Jr.
The “Golden Age” appears to be heading towards a glyft start.
Luckily for us, the sales pitch that leaps Florida on the Trump Bitcoin bandwagon and puts the state’s pension fund at risk has given lawmakers several moratoriums.
“One of these blockchain technologies will be hacked and the coin will be worth quite a bit faster,” said Rep. Kevin Steele of R-Hudson. “That’s the only fear I have of investing in something like that.
“I’m a concrete person,” Steele continued. “The coins I cannot touch, feel, or see are not specific. They are, so to speak, “steamers.” ”
Rep. Mike Caruso of R-West Palm Beach thought the ability to give the state’s chief financial officer the ability to invest 10% of his national funds in cryptocurrency was too dangerous.
“Whether it’s Bitcoin or Tesla inventory, do you think it would be wise to invest up to 10% of your entire portfolio in one item?” he asked.
Trade wealth manager Adam Anderson of R Palm Harbor said he doesn’t know why states should only choose Bitcoin if there are many other forms of cryptocurrency that can be purchased.
He also said this is an investment option that is still “in the early stages.” And it should give us a pause.
“When we add new asset classes, there are new concerns,” he told a colleague. “One of them is pretty important.”
Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, 65-year-old D-Gainesville state lawmaker, said she learned from her children and grandchildren that “there is a whole new world in this digital thing.”
But she was worried about giving Florida’s chief financial officer the authority to take real money from state funds to invest in what is now an empty job and is hard to imagine.
“My generation doesn’t understand that unless it’s money,” she said.
Eventually, Florida lawmakers took the pass by succumbing to Trump’s Bitcoin push. And the nation was not alone.
Trump’s Bitcoin push also failed elsewhere. good.
Similar legislative efforts in Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma have not been able to adopt Bitcoin reserves either.
In Arizona, state Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs rejected the Bitcoin bill passed by a Republican-led Congress last week.
“The Arizona retirement system is one of the most powerful systems in the country because of its sound and informed investment,” Hobbs wrote in a veto letter.
“The Arizonan Retirement Fund is not where the state attempts to invest in untested investments like cryptocurrency.”
It’s not even from Florida. At least for now.
So, let’s pay tribute to state lawmakers this time by feeling sufficiently strong to resist being taken by their greedy heroes.
Frank Serabino is a news columnist for the Palm Beach Post, part of USA Today Network-Florida. He can be contacted at fcerabino@pbpost.com.
