By
Temitope Olatunji
April 26th, 2024
There is already a number of states that have officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal means of paying for certain goods and services.
In her frantic bid to see Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest digital currency become legal tender in the state of Arizona, Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced some crypto bills to the state parliament.
Taking to Twitter, Senator Wendy shared the news in line with the earlier report from American multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) which states that Bitcoin ranked as the best-performing asset in 2022.
The lawmaker said she introduced the crypto bills as well as another bill for Photo Radar Prohibition in the state of Arizona. According to her, the bill has almost all of her Republican colleagues as co-sponsors, implying that she will only have to contend with the other members of the parliament from other parties to get the bill to scale through.
“Breaking: #Bitcoin is the best performing asset in the world this year according to data from Goldman Sachs.”
Launched my #Crypto bills today, as well as Photo Radar Prohibition, which included nearly all my Republican senator colleagues as cosponsors @JeffWeninger @JDMesnard pic.twitter.com/ueUeFSEybo
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) January 25, 2023
There is nowhere in the United States where Bitcoin is recognized as a legal tender as many are still torn about the status of digital currencies. This discrepancy in laws has kept a lot of institutional investors away from investing directly in digital currency.
While there are a few companies with vested investment in Bitcoin like MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR), the majority of those who embraced the asset are doing so through Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) or the few approved Bitcoin Futures Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) trading today.
Senator Wendy is looking at changing this narrative in Arizona as a passage of the Bill will set a positive and clear path for Bitcoin to be accepted as payment for debt securities, charges, and other core state requirements. Known as a long-term advocate for digital currency, the introduction of this Bill is the second attempt by Senator Wendy.
She made a push to make BTC a legal tender in April last year but her efforts were not successful at the time.
Arizona to Trail El Salvador in Making Bitcoin Legal Tender
At present, there is a number of states that have officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal means of paying for certain goods and services and these include Colorado and California. Miami Mayor, Francis Suarez is also a big proponent of Bitcoin, however, his influence is just limited to the city.
Should Arizona succeed in making Bitcoin a legal tender, it will be following in the footsteps of El Salvador, a country in Central America that made Bitcoin a legal tender back in September 2021. El Salvador was criticized for its adoption of Bitcoin at the time, and though the country seems to be meeting up with its debt obligations, many, including US authorities still believe the country made a mistake with the move.
The chances that Arizona will also face backlash for attempting to give Bitcoin a similar legal tender status as the United States Dollar may fuel a lot of kickback even beyond the state. This second bill presentation may also face as much of an intense push as the first.