Silver and Gold a Step Closer to Legal Tender in Florida

Precious metals are closer to being usable for transactions, as Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a bill “to make gold and silver proper legal tender.”

DeSantis says the move protects “financial sovereignty” and safeguards against the “declining value of the dollar.”

HB 999 “recognizes gold and silver coin as legal tender for payment of debts,” but also mandates “additional requirements regarding privately ensuring deposits’ security, record keeping, and maintaining separate ledger accounts for money services that effectuate transactions involving gold or silver coin.”

For DeSantis, the bill is the latest in a series of actions against initiatives, including the introduction of Central Bank Digital Currency and environmental, social, and governance policies, particularly in pension funds.

“The same people that pushed these bad policies wouldn’t want you doing gold and silver,” DeSantis said, as commodities offer independence from “fiat currency” devalued by a federal government dedication to “borrowing and spending.”

DeSantis notes the legislation allows “check cashers or PayPal to transmit and accept payment in gold and silver.”

“That means these precious metals can start functioning like real currency again, not just investment vehicles for the wealthy,” he said, noting that gold has gone “up, big time,” and predicting it would continue to amid concerns over U.S. credit ratings and the bond market.

“So it’s not just an investment. It’ll be something that you’re going to be able to use. And it’s something that is very likely to hold its value. Certainly compared to fiat currency,” he remarked.

During his commentary, DeSantis lauded Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, while lashing out at the Republican Congress for not codifying cuts, saying it proved the need for a balanced-budget amendment and term limits for Congress.

“DOGE fought the swamp,” DeSantis said. “And thus far the swamp has won.”

The final bill also requires the Chief Financial Officer and the Financial Services Commission to adopt rules implementing the bill and submit them to the Legislature by Nov. 1, with Senate language imposing more guidelines for the bill.

The legislation would remove sales tax for “coins or currency sold, exchanged, or traded based on precious metal content,” per a bill summary from the House. It would also exempt gold or silver coins from sales tax and allow governmental entities to accept them as legal tender, establishing guidelines for custodians of these instruments and providing consumer protections.

–A.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics