Crypto Global

Arizona's Bitcoin Legal Tender Proposal

Feb 1, 2022

The Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Study Committee takes Arizona residents and businesses into the 21st century. In May 2021, the Arizona Senate passed House Bill 2544, signed by Governor Doug Ducey. Now there's a new house bill proposed to make Arizona a cryptocurrency capital. House Bill "SB 1341" would change the existing list of accepted legal tender in the state of Arizona, if approved.

Imagine buying groceries or paying your taxes with Bitcoin or any other digital currency. This could soon be our future. House Bill 2544 forms a committee that creates guidelines for state legislatures to implement policies that will make Arizona a leader in cryptocurrency. Among the policies are incentives for residents to switch to cryptocurrency, making it easier for residents to pay taxes directly in their digital currency and/or even levies to the state when shopping.

This enables direct payment, which is cheaper and faster. A system that requires no fees, no credit cards and no middlemen. Banks are a tremendous service, and our economy probably couldn't function without them. However, banking services are not free. These house bills create consumer protections in case the cryptocurrencies are used to purchase goods and services as they become more mainstream and when disputes arise.

It's no longer a secret that Arizona is very open to Bitcoin. After China's mining ban, many companies moved to the USA and settled mainly in the southern states of America. A proposed house bill (SB 1341) was published last week that would make Bitcoin legal tender in the US state of Arizona. Another proposed house bill (SB 1127) would allow cryptocurrencies to be used as a starting point for payments of taxes and other payments to the state or government agencies. However, there is a clear difference between SB 1341 and SB 1127. While SB 1127 would allow authorities to accept all cryptocurrencies as payment, SB 1341 only refers to bitcoin as legal tender. As in El Salvador, where Bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador alongside the US dollar on September 7, 2021.

And then there's US President Biden, who is reportedly set to sign an executive order in the coming weeks to begin state regulation of cryptocurrency. The expected executive order will task federal agencies with regulating digital assets like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for national security reasons. The national security memorandum, expected in the next few weeks, would task parts of the government with analyzing digital assets and putting together a regulatory framework covering cryptos, stablecoins and NFTs.

The idea of a decentralized currency that nobody, neither central banks nor governments, fully controls and that is traded between people could pose the greatest threat to the current monetary system in existence. We totally agree. Bitcoin is a national security issue. It is a decentralized open system where anyone can plug into this system from anywhere. Anyone can use it. Similar to the Internet, where we all benefited from it.