A bill introduced to the New York Assembly on January 26 would allow state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees, and other payments collected by the state.
JUST IN: A New York Senate has introduced a bill to allow #Crypto as a form of payment
— Interpret Crypto (@interpretcrypto) January 27, 2023
New York State Assembly Bill A523 was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, who is often viewed as a pro-crypto politician. It allows state agencies to enter into “agreements with individuals to provide for acceptance, by state offices, of cryptocurrency as a means of payment” for various types of fees, including “fines, civil penalties, rents, fees, taxes, fees , fees, revenue, financial obligations, or other amounts, including penalties, special assessments, and interest, owed to state agencies.”
The bill does not require state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as payment, but clarifies that state agencies can legally agree to accept such payments and that these agreements must be enforced by courts.
The bill defines “cryptocurrency” as “any form of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of monetary units […] Including, but not limited to, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.”
Depending on how this definition is interpreted, it may or may not include stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC) Y Tether (USDT). For one, the supply of stablecoins is often regulated by the issuer rather than the crypto. On the other hand, the bill recognizes that some cryptocurrencies have an “issuer”, and establishes that agencies can charge the payer an additional fee if said fee is collected by the issuer of the cryptocurrency.
To become law, the bill will have to be approved by the New York Assembly and Senate, as well as signed by the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul.
The New York government is often seen as hostile to cryptocurrency. In November 2022, New York became the first state to pass a bill banning almost all cryptocurrency mining. It has also been criticized for the restrictive “BitLicense” that it requires of all cryptocurrency exchanges. In April 2022, the mayor of New York argued that the BitLicense should be repealed.
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