The good news is around the corner for New Yorkers if the New York Assembly passes the bill to allow Crypto Payments For Fines & Taxes.
A new bill is introduced on 26 January in the New York State Assembly to allow estate agencies to accept cryptocurrency payments. With this crypto payments can be accepted for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees, etc. This bill isn’t approved yet, to become a law, the New York Assembly and Senate have to pass it, and also it will require the signature of the state’s Governor, Kathy Hochul.
Democratic Assembly Member Clyde Vanel, who’s known for his crypto-friendly personality introduced the A523 in the assembly. According to the bill, “It enables state agencies to “agree with persons to provide the acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment by offices of the state for a variety of fees. Including “fines, civil penalties, rent, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations or other amounts, including penalties, special assessments, and interest, owed to state agencies.”
It is also clear that state agencies are not obligated to receive crypto payments. According to the bill the state agencies can agree to accept crypto payments legally. And the agreements for that will be enforced by the court.
What Kind Of Crypto Payments For Fines & Taxes?
According to the bill, here “cryptocurrency” includes but is not limited to bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin cash. Including “any type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are utilized to manage the formation of units of currency.”
Stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) may or may not be included in this definition. Stablecoin supply is typically controlled by the issuer rather than via encryption. However, the bill does acknowledge that some cryptocurrencies have an “issuer,” and it stipulates that agencies may impose an additional fee on the payor if the cryptocurrency’s issuer does so.
The bill stated that: –
“Any state agency which has entered into an agreement with a person or cryptocurrency issuer as authorized by the provisions of subdivision two of this section may accept cryptocurrency as a means of payment of fines… as provided in such agreement and may pay such fees as are specified in such agreement to such cryptocurrency issuer in consideration of the services rendered by such cryptocurrency issuer thereunder”
Similar Events Showing Cryptocurrency Acceptance In the USA
Something similar is happening in other states of the USA. An example is Arizona Senator, Wendy Rogers has pushed the bill of making Bitcoin a legal tender. A similar bill to this was already introduced in 2022. In a recent tweet, Rogers announced the release of a set of cryptocurrency bills and highlighted data from financial firm Goldman Sachs indicating that Bitcoin is the best-performing asset globally.
We can say that Arizona is following in the footsteps of El Salvador. El Salvador is the first country to recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2021. If the bill gets cleated, Bitcoin will become a method of exchange similar to the US dollar.
Final Thoughts
With the introduction of this bill, now it is to see whether this will pass or not. As the New York State government has been hostile about cryptocurrency from the start. Even in November 2022, New York became the first state to almost ban cryptocurrency mining.
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