The U.S. state of Colorado is set to accept cryptocurrency payments for state taxes by the middle of this year, according to its governor, Jared Polis, who in an interview said the move was part of a longtime ambition of the state.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Crypto World,” Polis noted that cryptocurrency payments will initially be rolled out “for all of our state tax-related purposes,” and added that the plan is to then “roll that out across all state government for things — could be as simple as a driver’s license or hunting license.”
Colorado is one of several U.S. states considering cryptocurrency legislation, as adoption of the nascent asset class grows throughout the country. Polis, it’s worth noting, has been a longtime cryptocurrency proponent who accepted BTC donations in his political campaign and has been pushing for Colorado to embrace crypto.
Polis first revealed the state’s plan to accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes in May of last year but started pushing for Colorado to become a blockchain epicenter back in 2018. Speaking to CNBC, Polis noted however that the state isn’t able to hold cryptoassets on its balance sheet.
It’s important that people know from a state perspective, we cannot be in the business of having exposure to a market where securities, including cryptocurrencies, fluctuate. In our case, we wouldn’t hold it as Bitcoin, as Ethereum.
The governor added that Colorado’s expenses are in dollars, as is its approved budgets, As such, it will have to convert any cryptocurrency payments received into USD through a third party. Polis likened cryptocurrency payments to “accepting a credit card, but with a much lower transaction cost than a credit card.”
Various institutions have been opening up to Bitcoin and cryptoassets over the last few months. As CryptoGlobe reported, earlier this year Fidelity Digital Assets published a report in which it argued that Bitcoin is a “superior form of money” that could be the “primary monetary good” and that its technological breakthrough was based on that superiority, and not as a superior payment technology.
Sentiment surrounding BTC has been mixed, however. While some see the cryptocurrency drop exponentially in the near future, most of JPMorgan’s clients have revealed they see the price of Bitcoin surpass the $60,000 before the end of this year, with 41% saying the cryptocurrency will trade at that level by the end of the year, 9% seeing it above $80,000 and 5% calling for $100,000.
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The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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