February Highlights at a Glance
- Success in Tallahassee
- Potential Collaboration with OFR
- Professional Development in Sarasota Schools
Success in Tallahassee
Minority Ranking Education Committee Member Rep. HinsonABE’s second trip to Tallahassee was a smashing success. As we continued our conversation with legislators who sit on the education committees in both the House and Senate, both sides of the aisle understand that blockchain technology is a non-partisan issue that can help Florida’s students as our lives become increasingly digital. Two meetings in particular stood out among all the ones that I held with legislators and aides during this trip.
First, Representative Hinson warmly greeted me by calling me “Mr. Bitcoin,” immediately recalling our first conversation from last year. I told her that what I appreciated about our conversation in 2025 was that she asked lots of questions and admitted that she did not know much about blockchain and digital assets, but voted in support of them because her children and grandchildren talk about them and understand their importance.
To that end, she told me that on February 11th, during the committee meeting that required her vote on the current stablecoin bill, she openly asked Rep. Yeager, the chair of the financial services committee, for a workshop on blockchain and digital assets so that legislators better understood what they are actually voting on. Without skipping a beat, I told her that Ardent would happily put together that workshop for early next year.
Education Committee Member Senator BurgessThe other incredible conversation was with my own state Senator, Danny Burgess. Senator Burgess was the legislator who met with our CEO, Ray Alvarez and me in December of 2024 at his local office. He was keen to help us because both of us are his constituents who live in SD 23, and he suggested we broaden our educational plan by focusing on digital assets in the context of financial literacy rather than only students with technical aptitude who had a coding background.
This year’s conversation included a full update on what we have accomplished since I last saw him, and it ended with him providing his cell phone number to me so that I can directly contact him for additional help. He also sent a text message to the FLDOE Chief of Staff in order to make introductions for ABE so that we can discuss potentially adding blockchain elements to the SB 1054 / Dorothy L. Hukill Financial Literacy Act requirements at some point in the future.
Potential Collaboration with The OFR
OFR Legislative & Cabinet Affairs Director Ash MasonDuring my roundtable meeting with the Office of Financial Regulation, I had mentioned to my friend and fellow Tampanian Ash Mason the conversation I had with Representative Hinson the day prior. The original plan was for me to follow up with Representative Yeager’s aide, Chase Bohannon, to discuss a workshop during early committee weeks at the start of the next legislative session, but Ash said that he believes the best path forward would be for ABE to collaborate with his office to add an air of gravity to our presentation. If we are vetted and endorsed by the OFR, it will provide a signal to the legislators that we are a serious organization that can be trusted to educate them on blockchain technology and digital assets. We should know more in the coming months as I continue the dialogue with Ash and his team.
Professional Development in Sarasota Schools
Sarasota Schools Professional Development Specialist Stella KarasThanks to a timely introduction from Michelle Anderson, I was finally able to have a meeting with Stella Karas, a Professional Development Specialist from Sarasota County Schools. We had a wonderful meeting where I told her about ABE and our 5-module seminar that was meant for students but has increasingly been discussed as a professional development session for curious educators.
During our dialogue, Stella asked me to produce a flyer for Sarasota teachers, as well as a standards crosswalk so that our professional development activity might align with multiple subjects beyond financial literacy (e.g. economics). The goal is to get this to her soon so that she can advertise our seminar for their next upcoming professional development day, which falls on Monday, March 23rd. I’m hopeful for a decent turnout and that this will be the beginning of a promising pilot partnership that we can share with other school districts around the state in the months to come!
As always, stay tuned for our next update. We will have more great news to share, including pictures and a full update from our first official professional development seminar with Sarasota Schools!
