New York bill would allow people to pay the state in crypto

A New York state legislator has introduced a bill that would make it legal for state agencies to accept payment in cryptocurrency for taxes, fines, and other “financial obligations.”

State Assembly Bill A2532 was introduced last week by State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, who was previously part of a state task force to study how to regulate and use cryptocurrency in New York.

The bill is broad in its statements, simply stating that each state agency has the right to enter into its own agreements with individuals to accept cryptocurrency payments for “fines, civil penalties, rent, tariffs, taxes, fees, charges, revenues, financial obligations or other amounts, including penalties, special assessments and interest, due to public bodies.

The bill also allows state agencies to pay the fees necessary to add transactions to the blockchain on which they are stored (the invoice allows payment via currencies “including but not limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash”), which can obtain pretty expensive.

It also allows state agencies to – optionally – require cryptocurrency recipients to “pay service fees to the state – including fees owed by the state to the issuer of the cryptocurrency. currency resulting from this transaction”. In other words, be sure to pay those tax bills on days when blockchain activity is slow.

New York: Not Exactly the Crypto State

New York was the first state in the United States to ban bitcoin mining in late 2022, when Governor Kathy Hochul declared a two-year moratorium on new mining activities in the state in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This also has rules which require a license for cryptocurrency businesses in the state, and have been generally viewed as tech-unfriendly. Vanel has introduced the same bill four times since 2017. Each time it went to committee and never got through, so keep that in mind. The bill is also expected to free the state senate as well as the assembly.

Vanel didn’t say if he had better hopes for this attempt, but he told us that getting crypto into the hands of every payment processor in a state agency isn’t necessarily his goal. He’s trying to make it easier for people who owe the state money to pay it, he told us.

“I deal with some state agencies that still don’t accept credit cards; others still only accept cash and money order,” Vanel said. The register. “States should be able to use the methods of exchanging value that people use today.”

These exchange methods include other forms of electronic payment like peer-to-peer transfer apps Venmo, PayPal, ApplePay, and others. Vanel has also introduced bills to determine whether the government could also accept payments through these channels.

I deal with state agencies that still don’t accept credit cards

Vanel told us that, depending on how fair this legislation is, he might not even push his crypto initiative too hard. “I’m trying to bridge the financial gaps by getting the state to accept payments the same way the rest of the world does. Once we get there, we can figure out how to use different types of digital currencies,” said Vanel said.

In other government-related blockchain news, California recently announced plans to place vehicle titles on a private blockchain. Meanwhile, the former British Prime Minister, no, not the last but Boris Johnson, told a group of blockchain enthusiasts in Singapore that the technology still hasn’t really found a solution. good reason to exist. ®