Posted originally on May 30, 2025 by Martin Armstrong 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared gold and silver legal tender. HB 999 maintains that these precious metals may be used in payments if they meet specific purity standards. The bill goes into effect on July 1, 2026, but many are confused as to what this will entail.

As stated in the legislation: “Legal Tender; Revising the sales and use tax exemption for certain coin or currency; specifying that a person who claims the sales tax exemption bears the burden for determining whether the gold coin or silver coin meets a specified definition; providing a presumption regarding the purity requirements of gold coin and silver coin, etc.”

“We are the first large state to step up and to get this done,” DeSantis said. “And this is right out of the Constitution of the United States. So this legislation will authorize money services business like check cashers or PayPal to transmit and accept payment in gold and silver.” State Rep. Bill Bankson sponsored the bill with the goal to “eliminate the tax burden and make it a functional means of transaction between willing parties.”

To begin, Florida is not the first state to declare gold and/or silver legal tender. Utah passed the Utah Legal Tender Act of 2011, which declared coins of either metal legal tender. Oklahoma passed Senate Bill 862 in 2014, recognizing U.S.-minted gold and silver coins as legal tender and exempting them from taxation. Kansas and West Virginia have similar policies. Texas has recognized these coins as legal tender and enacted legislation to protect them from state seizure. Wyoming treats gold and silver as currency and has exempted it from sales tax. South Carolina and Louisiana have similar policies.

Florida’s approach is a bit more structured. Gold coins must be at least 99.5% pure and silver coins at least 99.9% pure to qualify as legal tender. The weight and purity must be imprinted on the metal with the name or symbol of the mint refiner. Both will be exempt from sales tax. The state government may choose to accept silver and gold coins for payments on taxes, dues, charges, and debts. Yet, these transactions must be done electronically, and the coins will be held by a public depository while processing. A regulatory regime will be established to handle coinage, process insurance, record-keeping, licensing, and consumer disclosure agreements, which the Office of Financial Regulation will oversee.

Will Floridians see people using silver coins to check out at the grocery store? No. The law entails that payments in gold and silver coinage are entirely optional, and no person or business is required to accept them in payments. Merchants will not be required to attain knowledge on metal purity or have scales behind the cash register. The difference now is that businesses are allowed to accept them if they choose to do so. There are numerous tax benefits to choosing metal over cash.

If John Doe wants to purchase a boat from a dealership with gold, for example, the dealership must voluntarily accept the coinage but is in no way obligated to do so. Then the dealership has the burden of verifying the spot price of gold or silver rather than the state. However, if you go to a bank to cash a check, the bank will have the ability to offer clients payments in gold or silver coinage rather than cash. Another aspect to consider is that Florida will no longer add a sales tax on transactions in gold and silver, lowering the cost for businesses and consumers by around 6%.

This signals the ongoing loss of confidence in the federal government. States are rebelling against federal mismanagement and offering residents alternatives to move off the grid. People tend to hoard gold and spend paper. Gold and silver are not practical as daily commerce but are a symbolic store of wealth. We are entering a phase where sovereign debt will become toxic, and states will begin to prepare for the inevitable chaos coming from Washington.