We may be just a few years away from bitcoin being legal tender in states across the US.
At least that’s the hope in Arizona according to State Senator Wendy Rogers, a self-proclaimed member of the far-right group the Oath Keepers.
For the second time in the last two years, Rogers, 68, has introduced SB 1235 to the Arizona State Senate that would make bitcoin a legal tender and allow state agencies to accept it.
By making bitcoin specifically legal tender it would mean that any “medium of exchange” with it would be authorized by the US for “payment of debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.”
Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
The bitcoin-specific bill was introduced alongside a series of other bills that would allow Arizona state agencies to enter into agreements with cryptocurrency issuers to accept it as payment.
SB 1239 extends the issuers to Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin, and Bitcoin cash.
"'Breaking: #Bitcoinis the best performing asset in the world this year according to data from Goldman Sachs'," Rogers quotes in a Twitter post on Tuesday while announcing her set of bills.
\u201c\u201cBreaking: #Bitcoin is the best performing asset in the world this year according to data from Goldman Sachs.\u201d\n\nLaunched my #Crypto bills today, as well as Photo Radar Prohibition, which included nearly all my Republican senator colleagues as cosponsors @JeffWeninger @JDMesnard\u201d— Wendy Rogers (@Wendy Rogers) 1674605252
Rogers seemingly got her quote from influencer and Bitcoin author Layah Heilpern who tweeted the sentiment on Tuesday.
The cryptocurrency market faced a harsh drop last year. The market crashed in May and FTX fell after declaring bankruptcy.
However, despite the volatile market, it seems Rogers finds value in cryptocurrency.
Among the bills Rogers introduced, SB 1236 states that a city or town "may not prohibit or otherwise restrict an individual from running a node on blockchain technology in a residence" or "impose a tax or fee on the use of blockchain technology by any person or entity."
Rogers introduced her first bitcoin bill, SB 1341, in January 2022 but it died.
Maybe the second time will be the charm.
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.