US State Legislatures are Becoming More Involved in Crypto and Blockchain

At the end of 2018, the Ohio State Government launched OhioCrypto.com, a Cryptocurrency tax payment portal, and became the first state in the United States to accept tax payments in cryptos. Nowadays, more and more US State legislatures are encouraged to dive into crypto and blockchain industry, according to Forbes.

17 states have proposed bills so far to make legislative efforts and form joint business-government study groups, with the hope of learning what Fintech could bring to different industries.

Without clear indications of which US states are included in the 17 states mentioned above, Forbes mentioned that Amy Davine Kim, Chamber of Digital Commerce Chief Policy Officer, said that legislators in these 17 states want to keep an open mind and know more about the needs of each industry.

Meanwhile, Mary Pfaff from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) also said she has seen many bills that are crypto friendly and aim to broaden the use of crypto.

The Washington State Senate introduced Parliamentary Act SB 5638 on January 25, 2019, encouraging the development of distributed ledger technology and blockchain. The bill specifically defined the terms “blockchain” and “distributed ledger technology,” and further affirmed the government's support for blockchain powered electronic signatures and licenses.

At the same time, for the 2019 tax season, the Internal Revenue Service recently stated that crypto investors have to pay crypto taxes. Make no mistake: similar to bonds or stocks, crypto investors are required to report loss and profits from each crypto transaction as well.

Image source: Pixabay
Author: Nicole Wei

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