By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
Republican legislators have filed bills that would authorize politicians and bureaucrats who oversee Florida’s General Revenue Fund, the Florida Retirement System (FRS), the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund and other huge state funds to invest up to 10 percent of their cash in risky Bitcoin and “other digital assets.”
Those public funds, which hold tens of billions of dollars, should be allowed to convert a chunk of it to Bitcoin, a highly volatile asset, as a “hedge against inflation,” according to the bills’ sponsors State Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota (SB 550) and Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-DeLand (HB 487).
Specifically, the nearly identical bills would bestow that substantial new power to the state’s chief financial officer, currently Jimmy Patronis, and with the State Board of Administration (SBA), which oversees the FRS and other funds. Its trustees are Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier and Chief Financial Officer Patronis, who resigned to run for Congress in November effective March 31.
Like Gruters, Patronis appears already sold on Bitcoin. In October he wrote to SBA executive director Chris Spencer requesting a report on the “feasibility, risk and potential benefits” of investing state funds in digital assets.
“When managing state pensions for firefighters, teachers and police officers, it’s also essential to prioritize the bottom line and ensure the best return on investment for Floridians,” Patronis said. “This is where the potential of investing in cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, becomes particularly compelling.”
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
