Crypto breaking: Colorado will accept cryptocurrency as payment for taxes

• Colorado Governor Jared Polis said on Wednesday that cryptocurrencies would be accepted as payment for state taxes and levies for the first time.

• Polis announced, “will accept digital coin payments and deposit the equivalent amount in dollars in the state’s treasury.”

Legislators in other states, including California and Arizona, are introducing bills that, if passed, would make cryptocurrencies an approved method of payment not just for tax purposes but throughout the state.

First to use blockchain technology

Although Colorado will be the first state to accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes, Ohio launched a similar scheme for a test run in 2018, which was eventually considered ineffective and was discontinued in 2019.

Polis announced that the state, which was one of the first to use blockchain technology for government infrastructure, will accept digital coin payments and deposit the equivalent amount in dollars in the state’s treasury.

In a statement, Polis said, “For a number of years, we’ve been building the infrastructure in Colorado to be a center of crypto and blockchain innovation.” “A critical aspect of Colorado’s wider innovation ecosystem,” according to the corporation.

Governor Polis has long been a leader in the world of cryptocurrencies and politics. Following a favorable Federal Exchange Commission judgment, he accepted Bitcoin for campaign donations during his 2014 race for the United States Congress.

El Salvador, outside of the United States, has been on a similar path for the previous nine months. The country’s Legislative Assembly enacted legislation making Bitcoin legal money in June 2021, allowing it to be used for ordinary purchases.

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International Monetary Fund

Accepting bitcoin has its critics, who point to the volatile nature of digital currencies and concerns about inflation as reasons why the initiative may ruin El Salvador’s economy. In January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asked El Salvador to rethink its decision.

Throughout the pandemic, cryptocurrency investment and interest have skyrocketed, with Bitcoin—the first digital currency—gaining more than 300 percent between March and December 2020, only to plummet more than 45 percent from an all-time high in November 2021.

Polis has stated that he wants the state to be ready to process and accept bitcoin by the summer, although he has not provided a more precise schedule.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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