New Hampshire Bill Proposes Legalization of Crypto Payments

by Arnab Shome
  • If passed, the state agencies will start accepting cryptocurrencies from July 1, 2020.
New Hampshire Bill Proposes Legalization of Crypto Payments
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In an attempt to promote digital assets, lawmakers in the US state of New Hampshire have introduced a bill to legalize Payments and taxes in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the state agencies.

The bill was introduced on January 3 by two Republican state senators Dennis Acton and Michael Yakubovich and had a public hearing on January 23.

According to the summary of the bill, it is due for a review by a sub-committee on January 29, with a due date for a decision set for March 14.

The bill mentions that the payments received with cryptocurrencies will be converted to US dollars using a third party payment processor and the state agencies will receive fiat currencies.

If passed, the state treasurer has to come up with a plan by November 1 for the state agencies to accept digital payments.

“The plan shall address any accounting, valuation and management issues and also identify an appropriate third party payment processor that will process cryptocurrency transactions at no cost to the state. The State Treasurer is required to submit the plan to the Governor, House, and Senate by November 1, 2019,” the bill stated.

US States are Favouring Crypto

This is not the first such bill in New Hampshire as a similar bill, to accept Bitcoin, was tabled in 2015. The bill, however, did not pass the review committee as many lawmakers were skeptical about the digital assets.

Last year, Ohio became the first US state to legalize tax payments in Bitcoin. Welcoming the initiative, Overstock, an online retailer and parent company of multiple Blockchain startups, became one of the first corporations to pay its taxes in digital currencies.

The state of Wyoming also introduced a bill recently to clarify the definition of cryptocurrencies classifying them into various categories.

In an attempt to promote digital assets, lawmakers in the US state of New Hampshire have introduced a bill to legalize Payments and taxes in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the state agencies.

The bill was introduced on January 3 by two Republican state senators Dennis Acton and Michael Yakubovich and had a public hearing on January 23.

According to the summary of the bill, it is due for a review by a sub-committee on January 29, with a due date for a decision set for March 14.

The bill mentions that the payments received with cryptocurrencies will be converted to US dollars using a third party payment processor and the state agencies will receive fiat currencies.

If passed, the state treasurer has to come up with a plan by November 1 for the state agencies to accept digital payments.

“The plan shall address any accounting, valuation and management issues and also identify an appropriate third party payment processor that will process cryptocurrency transactions at no cost to the state. The State Treasurer is required to submit the plan to the Governor, House, and Senate by November 1, 2019,” the bill stated.

US States are Favouring Crypto

This is not the first such bill in New Hampshire as a similar bill, to accept Bitcoin, was tabled in 2015. The bill, however, did not pass the review committee as many lawmakers were skeptical about the digital assets.

Last year, Ohio became the first US state to legalize tax payments in Bitcoin. Welcoming the initiative, Overstock, an online retailer and parent company of multiple Blockchain startups, became one of the first corporations to pay its taxes in digital currencies.

The state of Wyoming also introduced a bill recently to clarify the definition of cryptocurrencies classifying them into various categories.

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