Arizona state senator, Wendy Rogers (R-AZ), has reintroduced legislation that would recognize bitcoin as a legal form of currency in the state and allow state agencies to accept it as legal tender.
Arizona state senator, Wendy Rogers
“The proposed legislation (PDF) aims to recognize bitcoin as a legal form of currency in Arizona, allowing it to be used to pay for debts, taxes and other financial obligations. This would mean that all transactions that are currently done in U.S. dollars could potentially be done with bitcoin, and individuals and businesses would have the option to use bitcoin as they see fit. Specifically mentioning bitcoin alone, the legal tender bill defines bitcoin as, “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 mathematical problems and that operates independently of a central bank.”
The acceptance bill is more broad, saying that, “A state agency may enter into an agreement with a cryptocurrency issuer to provide a method to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method of fines, civil penalties or other penalties, rent, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations and special assessments to pay any amount due to that agency or this state.”
The proposed bill would allow individuals and businesses to use bitcoin to pay for debts, taxes, and other financial obligations, and would define bitcoin as a “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 mathematical problems and that operates independently of a central bank.” Rogers had previously introduced a similar bill in January 2022, but it did not pass.
According to the report, Sen. Rogers introduced the same amendment in January 2022, but it “died by the second reading.”
