US State Proposes Bill To Prevent Bitcoin From Being ‘Money’

Dennis Porter, CEO and co-founder of Satoshi Act Fund, shared a shocking breaking news via Twitter today that can be understood as a massive attack on Bitcoin in the United States of America. Porter wrote that the state of South Dakota is trying to pass a law that would exclude Bitcoin from the definition of “money” while providing a secure pathway for CBDCs.

“This law would ensure that only governments can create ‘money’ which on its face would exclude all digital assets,” says Porter, who went on to explain that the bill states that no medium of exchange can be considered “money” unless it was “approved or adopted by the government” before it existed as a medium of exchange. The bill reads:

Money means a medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an international organization or by an agreement between two or more countries.

The term does not include an electronic record that is a medium of exchange recorded and transferable in a system that existed and operated for the medium of exchange before the medium of exchange was authorized or adopted by the government.

The worst part, according to Porter, is that attempts are being made to enforce this policy in 21 different states in the United States. “There is seemingly a goal to build a bull work of pro-CBDC states that also exclude digital assets like Bitcoin from the definition of money,” Porter interpreted the law, showing the map below of U.S. states that could follow the bill.

Is The Bill A Threat To Bitcoin?

Yaël Ossowski, Deputy Director Consumer Choice Center (CCC) commented on South Dakota’s push by saying that it is standard wording that already exists in other states. Still, the bill is a threat to Bitcoin, he added:

It’s based on model policy from the association of banking supervisors, who have been able to collude with the Uniform Law Commission to make this suggestion. It will have minimal teeth, but it’s still a threat to BTC.

Andy Roth, President of the State Freedom Caucus Network, also acknowledged that this is a “big deal.” The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is a set of business laws that govern financial contracts and transactions that apply in all states. Roth went on to explain:

The UCC is creating the framework for CBDCs to be accepted (and Bitcoin denied) via Amazon and all other retailers. All digital transactions. This must be stopped. The good news is that we still have a chance to kill this in the 49 other states.

It is worth mentioning, however, that Bitcoin is gaining increasing support in numerous U.S. states, and the Satoshi Act Fund has contributed to this in a big way. As Bitcoinist reported, Texas and New Hampshire have launched Bitcoin-friendly laws, as has Montana, among others.

At press time, the Bitcoin price was at $23,397, struggling to hold key support at $23,350.

Featured image from PYMNTS.com, Chart from TradingView.com