States in America have slowly begun adopting the blockchain and in general cryptocurrencies. Arizona recently passed a bill allowing citizens to pay taxes via digital coins.
On 20th February the lawmakers in California introduced a new bill that advocates for recognition of blockchain contracts, decentralized signatures and transactions to handle all legal needs for the state.
The bill needs to pass all the stages of the house and approved by the State’s Senate and signed by Governor Jerry Brown before it takes effect as an act. The proposed law is being advocated by one of the youngest members of the California state assembly, Ian Calderon. He has championed the adoption of the blockchain in California and hopes that parts of the blockchain will end up being legalized.
The bill
The tabled bill clearly explains digital signatures and how they can be well implemented to manage the operations of the current state.
“This bill would revise provisions of the act that defines “electronic record” and “electronic signature” to include a record or a signature that is secured through blockchain technology, as defined. (…) and expand the definition of “contract” to include a smart contract. (…) it also specifies that a person who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, uses blockchain technology to secure information that the person owns or has the right to use retains the same rights of ownership or use in this state with respect to that information as before the person secured the information using blockchain technology.”
The bill provides a clear guideline and recommendations on how the technology can be useful in providing a secure channel for scrutinizing personal data. California blockchain adoption will propel multi-billion dollar economy to provide a secure and faster solution of handling cryptocurrency transactions in the largest state by population density.
Crypto haven states
If the bill manages to pass all stages and be signed into an act, this will add California to a new club of crypto friendly states that includes Tennessee, Arizona, Florida, Vermont and crypto haven Wyoming.
Recently Wyoming House of Representatives passed two pro-blockchain bills that seek to exempt utility tokens from securities laws. The bill proceeded to the state Senate for further deliberation as the law stipulates.
The Arizona Senate recently passed a pro-crypto bill, if signed into the law will allow residents to pay their taxes with the bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies so long as they are listed and approved by the state’s revenue authorities.
Blockchain Regulation
IMF chief Lagarde recently warned the international on the impact of cryptocurrencies on local markets, stating that a global regulation is “inevitable”. Traditional markets are now joining the crypto space, creating indirect links to gain market share before the market is too crowded. However, the applicability of the blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology is far-reaching and cuts across all levels of an economy both public and private.
