Arizona State Senator wants to make Bitcoin an accepted form of payment. On Tuesday, Wendy Rogers introduced a bill in the Senate.
Senator Rogers wants to give Bitcoin legal status in Arizona. The bill, numbered SB1341, would allow Arizona Revised Statutes to include Bitcoin as legal tender in the state.
In addition, the Senator specifically talks about Bitcoin in the bill. The bill refers to the cryptocurrency as “a decentralized peer-to-peer digital currency managed on the Bitcoin blockchain.”
The proposal also makes no mention of other cryptocurrencies. If the proposal is implemented, Arizona will be the first state in the United States to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Third attempt to introduce Bitcoin in Arizona
According to rumors, Arizona has been trying to introduce cryptocurrencies for some time. These proposals date back to 2018. However, this idea did not materialize. At that time, cryptocurrency was not as popular as it is today.
After 2018, the state tried again to accept cryptocurrencies as legal tender. In 2020, there was the ‘Arizona Cryptocurrency as Legal Tender Initiative’. But the movement did not receive the support it needed at the time.
The 2022 law is Arizona’s third attempt in the same direction. Legal tender is any medium of exchange accepted as payment by the courts of the state.
Bill unlikely to sail through
This proposal by Wendy Rogers may also prove to be a futile effort. Apparently, many people have said that the proposal could fail for legal reasons.
Under Article I, Section 10 and Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, states are prohibited from declaring assets as legal tender.
Furthermore, Clause 1 states that states within the U.S. may not declare any asset as legal tender, except gold or silver coins.
The Constitution states, “No State shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender for debts.
Constitutional reasons aside, Senator Rogers’ political views make her unpopular with citizens. As a result, the Senator is unlikely to receive significant popular support for the bill.
The third reason for its likely failure is that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service does not consider Bitcoin to be legal tender.
The government agency says that Bitcoin is a medium of exchange but does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction.
So far, the only country that accepts cryptocurrencies as a form of payment is El Salvador. In September 2021, the government moved to accept Bitcoin. The country’s president said that this move would help citizens who do not have access to traditional banking services.
Source: BinBits
