Senator Wendy Rogers Wants To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender In Arizona

Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced numerous crypto-related bills in the past, with the most recent one being to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender in the state. This marks a new trend in the United States wherein many government officials have realized that, despite their best efforts to curb the booming industry, crypto and its associated components (NFTs, blockchain, the metaverse, and so on) are not going anywhere.

What happened?

The right-wing senator tweeted that she has already launched her crypto bills and that her state senate Republican colleagues Jeff Weninger and J.D. Mesnard have also co-sponsored the bills, one which seeks to make the flagship crypto legal tender.

According to the bill, Bitcoin is defined as a fully decentralized, P2P virtual currency in which a record of transactions has to be maintained at all times through the blockchain and that new units of this digital currency are generated via the computational solution of mathematical problems. The bill also clarified that Bitcoin operates independently of any central bank, intermediary, or third party.

Another bill would permit state agencies to enter into a deal with a crypto issuer to offer a viable procedure of accepting cryptocurrencies as payment for various purposes such as civil penalties, fines, charges, rates, rent, taxes, revenue, special assessments, and any other financial obligation.

In 2022, Rogers had introduced a similar bill in Arizona to make BTC legal tender, however she was denied. She would later tweet that centralized digital money controlled by central bankers is equivalent to financial slavery, and that a truly decentralized currency, like Bitcoin, is synonymous with liberty, the very basis upon which the country was built.

Bitcoin becoming mainstream?

Despite a tumultuous year for crypto in 2022, which saw many incidents like the collapse of Terra and FTX, interest in crypto and crypto-related products has only continued to increase. Many major names in several industries like Emirates, Samsung, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Starbucks, and more have expressed interest in either crypto or the underlying technology behind it and its related components.

El Salvador became the inaugural nation to accept Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the United States Dollar in September 2021. Since then, the country has bought thousands of BTC for its treasury, led by pro-crypto president Nayib Bukele who also announced in November that El Salvador is buying Bitcoin on a daily basis and that the country will be using geothermal energy to power Bitcoin City.