Bitcoin-Backed Loans in Florida (2026)

Laws on the books

• In effect Jul 2025HB 515 (2025)

  UCC Article 12, the law that matters most for bitcoin borrowers

  Effective July 1, 2025, Florida adopted the Uniform Commercial Code's Article 12 on "controllable electronic records." In plain English: bitcoin is now a formally recognized property class under Florida commercial law, and a lender can perfect a security interest in your BTC either by filing a UCC-1 or by taking "control" of the asset, with control-based perfection taking priority. That gives Florida-law loan agreements cleaner collateral mechanics than states still stretching decades-old UCC categories to fit crypto.

• Effective Oct 2026CS/HB 175 (2026)

  Stablecoin licensing framework

  Signed June 29, 2026, with most provisions effective October 1, 2026. Florida aligned itself with the federal GENIUS Act: payment-stablecoin issuers get two licensing paths, an OFR money services license or a trust company certificate, must hold 100% reserves in permitted assets, and must file monthly reserve reports certified by the CEO or CFO.

• Effective Jan 2027CS/HB 505 (2026)

  Virtual Currency Kiosk Act

  From January 1, 2027, crypto ATM operators must register with the OFR, cap daily transactions at $2,000 for customers of less than 7 days ($10,000 for others), display fraud warnings, issue receipts, and fully refund fraud victims on a first transaction. Lawmakers cited an estimated $33 million in Florida kiosk scam losses.

• In effectSB 1568 (2026)

  Stablecoin Pilot Program

  The Department of Financial Services can now accept certain asset-backed payment stablecoins for state regulatory and licensing fees, one of the first programs of its kind.

• In effect 2023SB 7054 (2023)

  CBDC ban

  Florida was the first state to amend its UCC definition of "money" to exclude central bank digital currencies.

On the horizon

• Died Mar 2026HB 1039 / SB 1038 (2026)

  Florida Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve

  The one that got away, twice. The 2026 version would have let the CFO put up to 10% of certain state funds into bitcoin, and it died on the House calendar on March 13, 2026, a year after 2025's reserve bills were withdrawn. Sponsors led by Rep. John Snyder and Sen. Joe Gruters are expected to try again in 2027.

Meanwhile the real near-term action is OFR rulemaking, to implement stablecoin licensing in October 2026 and kiosk registration in January 2027.

Tax: nothing to see here, and that is the point

Florida's advantages go beyond the constitutional bar on income tax. The state repealed its annual intangible personal property tax at the start of 2007, so simply holding bitcoin costs nothing in state tax, there is no estate tax, and selling BTC triggers federal tax only. One piece of Chapter 199 does survive, a nonrecurring 2-mill tax, but it attaches to notes secured by a mortgage or lien on Florida real property, not to intangible property you hold, so it does not reach BTC pledged as collateral on an ordinary bitcoin-backed loan. And with the SB 1568 pilot, Florida is now moving toward letting you pay the state in crypto rather than taxing you for using it.

Because the state takes nothing either way, the Florida sell-versus-borrow decision is a purely federal one, which is unusual: borrowing against bitcoin is not itself a taxable event, while selling realizes a federal capital gain that a Florida resident cannot offset with any state-level break. Our sell versus borrow tax strategy guide works through where that trade stops being worth it, and the bitcoin loan calculator prices the borrowing side against your own numbers.

Lending & borrowing

Beyond the money-transmitter carve-out Florida borrowers already enjoy, note the Consumer Finance Act (Ch. 516): consumer loans of $25,000 or less at rates above 18% require an OFR consumer finance license, with tiered rate caps of 30%, 24% and 18% by balance band. Most bitcoin-backed loans are larger or priced below those thresholds, but small-balance borrowers should check whether their lender is licensed. The bigger structural change is Article 12. How your lender "controls" your collateral now determines its priority in a dispute, which is a good question to ask any lender before you pledge.

Providers & industry

Florida keeps consolidating as a crypto-finance hub. Miami-based Milo, the crypto-mortgage specialist, crossed $100 million in originations in February 2026, including a record $12 million single loan. MARA Holdings, the largest US-listed bitcoin miner, is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, and Blockchain.com runs its US headquarters out of Miami. All seven lenders we track serve Florida. Combined with the tax picture, borrowing against bitcoin in Florida is about as friction-free as it gets in the US.