The measure, which requires currency coins with weight and purity, will enter into force on July 1, 2026.
Its use will be optional, and the purchases of these metals will be exempt from the sales tax.
Governor Ron Desantis, from the American state of Florida, signed a bill that begins the process so that gold and silver are legal tender. The movement, which seems taken from another era, has its eye on the current economic anxieties, while the financial world accelerates its passage towards an increasingly digitized future with Bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset.
The law, which will enter into force on July 1, 2026, seeks to offer Florida residents an alternative to the US dollar, in a context of growing concern for inflation and federal public spending.
“We have really led the way in the protection of its economic independence and financial sovereignty,” Danantis said during a press conference held yesterday at Orange County.
Desantis, known for being a defender of Bitcoin, said precious metals act as a safeguard against the devaluation of the dollarpointing out that the value of gold has tripled since 2015, while the purchasing power of the dollar has decreased due to inflation. “This is our ability to give them financial freedom to protect themselves against the decreasing value of the dollar,” he added, according to Fox report.
The new legislation stipulates that, as of July 1 of next year (2026), all gold and silver coins used as legal tender currency must be clearly stamped with their weight, purity and mint of origin or place of coinage.
The regulations specify that both the use and the acceptance of these precious metals will be optional for individuals and companies. In addition, it will exempt the purchases of these metals considered as valuable to the State Sales Tax, and It will allow gold and silver to be used to pay other types of state taxes, Once the rules are established.
All this arises shortly after Florida lost impulse for positioning himself as a leader in the adoption of Bitcoin, after the failure of bills HB 487 and SB 550, which sought to establish a state BTC reserve. Both projects, presented at the beginning of 2025, were “postponed indefinitely and retired of consideration,” as Cryptonoticia reported, which is equivalent to their definitive failure in this session. To relive this initiative, legislators must present new projects in 2026, facing possible political and technical objections that stopped these proposals.
Gold and silver vs. Bitcoin: A debate in full digital era
While the intention of diversifying monetary options is clear, the choice of physical metals in full era of bitcoin is generated debate on social networks. In fact, some wonder why not explore alternatives such as digital assets? These do not need to be heavy, physically transported with the inherent risk, nor do they entail the same challenges of verification against falsifications as precious metals? Bitcoin, by its digital nature, offers a portability and divisibility that physical gold cannot easily match everyday transactions.
Some even believe that the measure is unfeasible, as the X user pointed out Praveenram1983who considers precious metals as “a class of assets that They cannot become legal tender; Once they do, they will fail ». “From 2026, you could buy lunch with coins that are worth more than your car,” adds the user Junior_stocks.
The news has generated diverse reactions. Marc Bonnett, owner of a company dedicated to precious metals, showed its support for the idea in theory, exhibiting 100 -ouns -valued silver bars in approximately $ 3,400 each. “You can’t print this out of nowhere,” said Bonnett, referring to the quasi -finite nature of precious metals.
Although gold and silver have been perceived as finite, they don’t really have a total demonstrated supply, due to possible future discoveries. It has been said that Bitcoin shares the characteristic of being scarce, such as precious metals, but in reality the digital currency stands out, since it has the technical advantage in its design to have A maximum supply of 21 million units.
However, Bonnett also expressed his doubts about practical implementation, concerns that resonate with the theoretical advantages of digital alternatives. “I think it’s a great idea in theory,” he said, “I just don’t know how they would implement it”. He pointed out the challenges of the proliferation of falsifications (“there are many false things out there”) and the need for businesses to verify authenticity and correctly assess metals.
“Unless they have someone to specialize in that … I think it would be very difficult,” he concluded. These are precisely the problems that Bitcoin solves, with its verification system, since it is a digital currency without regulator that has demonstrated itself.
A sarcastic exchange between Schiff, clinging to gold as a traditional refuge, and Woo, Bitcoin defender, encapsulates the division that exists between these assets in the financial world. While Florida bets on physical metals, the debate between tangible gold and “digital gold” is still without a clear winner, reflecting the tensions between tradition and an increasingly digitized future.
