The state of South Dakota has proposed a new bill that makes specific changes to what constitutes money. The bill expressly excludes bitcoin and other existing digital assets from the definition of currency, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
A bill proposed by South Dakota would ban the use of digital assets as a medium of exchange.
The bill, titled "An Act to Amend the Provisions of the Uniform Business Code" and dubbed HB 1193, seeks to amend the state's Uniform Business Code, the body of laws that govern all business transactions in the state. It also includes a new definition of the term "money".
Introduced in the House by Rep. Mike Stevens, the 117-page amendment defines money as a viable medium of exchange only if it is "authorized or accepted" by the government. He said:
“Currency means a medium of exchange currently authorized or accepted by a national or foreign government. The term includes a monetary unit of account established by an intergovernmental organization or by agreement between two or more countries.
The bill clarifies that the term "currency" does not include "an electronic record that is a registered and transferable medium of exchange in a system that existed and functioned as a medium of exchange before the medium of exchange was authorized or accepted by the government." , which is an obvious reference to all cryptocurrencies.
Many in the cryptocurrency community opposed the bill, which defines CBDC as a form of currency and excludes digital currencies. If approved, Amazon and all other retailers would not be able to accept cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, as a payment method, said Andy Roth, head of the conservative State Freedom Caucasus Network.
Club for Growth is asking the governor to veto the bill
David McIntosh, president of the prominent conservative organization Club for Growth, wrote a letter to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem urging her to veto HB 1193, which specifically excludes Bitcoin and other existing digital assets from the definition of money.
"HB 1193 is an attack on the free market, American innovation and ingenuity, personal freedom, and American national security and must be vetoed," McIntosh said in the letter.
He said Bitcoin and other digital assets represent the most transformative technology since the Internet, noting that they could add billions of dollars to the economy. added:
"They [cryptocurrencies] are one of the best hopes for protecting our basic liberties of free speech, association, and free exchange of ideas, as well as our national security, which are increasingly threatened by governments and authoritarian entities."
Despite numerous efforts, including the introduction of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies last September, the United States has failed to enact clear cryptocurrency regulations in the global nation. While lawmakers have stepped up their efforts to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, the lack of comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation has only created more confusion among cryptocurrencies across the country.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that almost every major financial center, including Singapore, Hong Kong, London and most recently the European Union, has published a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. He warned that a lack of clear regulation would push the cryptocurrency industry out of the US.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist