Arizona Senator Proposes Law to Make Bitcoin (BTC) Legal Tender

Arizona might be the latest place to make Bitcoin legal tender, if a new bill put forth by US Senator Wendy Rogers passes.

The bill defines “legal tender” as “Any medium of exchange that is authorized by the United States Constitution or Congress for the payment of debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.”

It defines Bitcoin as:

“Bitcoin means the decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained on the Bitcoin blockchain and new units of currency are generated by the computational solution of 21 mathematical problems and that operates independently of a central bank.”

Rogers, who was appointed to the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Study Committee late last year, says that Bitcoin will be good for everyone, including businesses.

The Arizona Senator didn’t stop at suggesting BTC as legal tender. After the bill on Friday started circulating, Rogers cooked up two more pro-crypto bills which were released early Tuesday.

The SB 1127 bill proposes state agencies provide a method to accept crypto payments for fines, civil penalties or other penalties, rent, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations and special assessments to pay any amount due to the agency or the state of Arizona.

In this bill, “cryptocurrency” is defined as “any form of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of monies, operating independently of a central bank.” The bill references by name Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

The second bill, SB1128, ostensibly aims to make crypto exempt from taxation. However, the bill notes that in order for this law to come into affect, the Constitution of Arizona would need to be amended.

“This act does not become effective unless the Constitution of Arizona is amended by vote of the people at the next general election to exempt virtual currency from property tax.”