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Bitcoin’s standing around the world has been methodically advancing over the course of the thirteen years since the blockchain’s genesis block was mined. At first, it was a fringe project championed only by libertarians, programmers, and cypherpunks. But in the present day, it has become a currency demanded by global citizens and supported by institutions and governments alike. Such monumental progress in such a short amount of time lends credence to some of the highest hopes from Bitcoiners around the world, namely that it could become the global reserve currency on top of which every financial system is based. Such a reality may now be even closer than we think:
From AZ to BTC
For over one hundred years, the U.S. dollar has reigned supreme as the only major currency accepted as legal tender across the United States. However, that may soon change for citizens living in the state of Arizona thanks to the introduction of a bill by a member of the state’s legislature that seeks to amend Arizona’s statutes to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender:
The bill is, of course, only in the proposal phase at this point, which means that it has a long way to go before a potential vote to enact it as law. Meanwhile, many opponents and other commentators are highly skeptical that the bill will muster sufficient support within the state’s legislature to pass. For example, a large number of critics and media outlets have adopted the belief that the United States Constitution forbids States from choosing their own legal tender. While I don’t put myself forward as a constitutional expert, a casual reading of the Constitution would seem to suggest that they may be right:
Section 10
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.
Take this all with a grain of salt though. As called out in that section, the Constitution specifically names gold as acceptable legal tender, and yet U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt succeeded in forbidding citizens from holding gold coins and certificates for over forty years, starting in the 1930s. Additionally, the Constitution forbids States to use anything but gold and silver coins as legal tender, but the U.S. dollar, which is not backed by gold deposits as some people believe, is by far the most common currency used as legal tender throughout the States (meaning that the States’ use of the U.S. dollar, in an ironic twist, may be unconstitutional). Both examples serve to show that politicians of all levels are happy to ignore the Constitution as long as no one enforces it.
Why It Actually Matters
Perhaps 2022 won’t be the year that the State of Arizona adopts Bitcoin as legal tender. Regardless, this development is still rather significant for one simple reason: it shows that more and more people, even those in positions of power within governments, are beginning to acknowledge the immense value of Bitcoin as a currency. And Arizona isn’t the only state making waves in that regard:
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Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami, Florida, has received at least one of his paychecks entirely in Bitcoin and is attempting to make it possible for residents to pay taxes using Bitcoin.
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Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, responded by taking a paycheck of his own partially in Bitcoin and has expressed his intent to make New York City the country’s center of cryptocurrency innovation.
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Greg Abbot, the governor of the State of Texas, is embracing Bitcoin miners as a way to shore up Texas’ struggling electrical grid and is a vocal proponent of Bitcoin in his public comments and on social media.
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Cynthia Lummis, a senator from the State of Wyoming, is a long-time supporter of Bitcoin and has proposed or helped to advance various pieces of legislation in Congress that bolster Bitcoin usage throughout the country.
And this short list only includes the politicians who have been the most vocal in support of Bitcoin just over the last several months. If so many supporters can come out of the woodwork in such a short amount of time, what do the next ten years hold for Bitcoin, both in the United States and throughout the world?
I’m excited to find out.
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