from Hacker News

Arizona Introduces a bill to make Bitcoin Legal Tender [pdf]

by bl4ckneon on 1/28/22, 8:00 PM with 102 comments

• by saxonww on 1/28/22, 8:15 PM

  Don't get too riled up about this. "Arizona" introduced nothing. State Senator Rogers did. It's probably not going to make it out of committee in the AZ legislature. I'd be surprised if anyone took it seriously.

  Edit: maybe someone knowledgeable can chime in; I don't think states can even do this. The US Government determines what is legal tender in the US.

• by charonn0 on 1/28/22, 8:22 PM

  Wouldn't this violate the federal Constitution?

  > No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

  -Article I, Section 10, Clause 1

• by TradingPlaces on 1/28/22, 8:43 PM

  “Arizona” did not introduce this bill. A single Senator, Wendy Rogers, with no co-sponsors introduced a bill. She is a well-known wingnut, who introduces a lot of legislation that never even gets to committee.

  https://www.billtrack50.com/legislatordetail/25708

• by papito on 1/28/22, 8:51 PM

  "Someone introduces a bill" is not news. Most of these die in obscurity. Wisconsin just introduced a bill to undo their slate of electors sent for the long-ago-settled Presidential election of 2020.

• by JumpCrisscross on 1/28/22, 8:09 PM

  Guess this would mean one could settle state taxes with Bitcoin? That's sort of neat. Also means someone could have a nice dinner and then refuse to pay with anything but Bitcoin, at least under state law, which sounds less fun.

• by stjohnswarts on 1/28/22, 8:57 PM

  It would be interesting to see if coinbase or other bitcoin pushing company funded her campaign.

• by paxys on 1/28/22, 8:29 PM

  Arizona has zero control over what is or isn't legal tender. This is a meaningless bill.

• by ForHackernews on 1/28/22, 8:12 PM

  Which Bitcoin? SV? Segwit? Cash?

• by reactspa on 1/28/22, 8:35 PM

  If the USA truly believed in competition, free markets, and capitalism, they wouldn't be so scared of currency competition.

  I suppose it's just like the Assange and Snowden situation. The USA releases all kinds of reports about press freedoms around the world and "authoritarianism", but somehow the USA never includes itself in these reports.

• by nimbius on 1/28/22, 9:01 PM

  ive been pondering some of these crazy bills around crypto or the culture war at the state level and ive come to a single generous conclusion...

  Under capitalisms fourth epoch, neoliberalism, there simply isnt much left for the state to really do. Its completely divorced by monetary policy save for ardent enforcement of austerity or the class structure through physical means, and its only ever called upon each decade to bless the rescue of lumbering appendages such as trade and banking when they fail. The state runs the military but has no real say in foreign trade, save when its called upon to enact the will of its true constituency (the capital class) in affecting the firm will of globalization in its varied permutations. the state runs education only in that it may abdicate itself from the role through privatization, and the state has a say in healthcare only in that its made compulsory its purchase through law. its regulatory agency has largely been diluted to a brisk rubber stamp in all but the most arcane function.

  So left to their own devices, states must remain relevant in that they exude autonomy and purpose, lest their citizens grow restless and apathetic to the call of democracy twice or thrice a year. a law here, an edict there, some popcorn and theatricality always help...even if its ultimately at the expense of the tax payer through lawsuits and defeat, it at least keeps them interested and entertained. it acts as a bundle of shiny car keys to a child, lest apathy at the polls completely delegitimize the state as an organism.