Despite crypto crash, the Libertarian Party of Florida is doubling down on Bitcoin | Florida News | Tampa

Despite a recent plunge in the cryptocurrency market, the Libertarian Party of Florida is backing Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.

Saying the nation’s central banking system is a primary “culprit” for inflation and that “the lack of sound money is crippling the economy,” the party announced Tuesday a resolution in support of the digital currency.

“Bitcoin is a completely unregulated form of currency that the governments local and federal want to further control which would likely corrupt the otherwise free market currency millions of people are voluntarily using,” the Libertarian Party said in a news release.

Anthony Welti, the party’s development director, said in the release that Libertarians believe “Bitcoin is a cure to the central banking system.”

Bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency have been derided by some economists as creating an “economic bubble,” where the asset price is much higher than reasonably justified.

Bloomberg on Sunday reported that Wall Street expects Bitcoin’s value to continue dropping.

“The token is more likely to tumble to $10,000, cutting its value roughly in half, than it is to rally back to $30,000, according to 60 percent of the 950 investors who responded to the latest MLIV Pulse survey,” Bloomberg reported of a survey conducted between July 5 and July 8. “The lopsided prediction underscores how bearish investors have become. The crypto industry has been rocked by troubled lenders, collapsed currencies, and an end to the easy money policies of the pandemic that fueled a speculative frenzy in financial markets.”

Bloomberg added that the “crypto crash is likely to put further pressures on governments to step up regulations of the industry.”

Florida has been going the other way, with DeSantis signing legislation in May intended to make Florida a crypto-friendly hub.

A law that will take effect Jan. 1 (HB 273) involves money service businesses and creates a new definition for “virtual currency.” The change is intended to increase virtual-currency transactions, activities and investments in the state.