In a landmark action, Oklahoma’s legislature passed a Bitcoin Rights protection bill on May 13 that gives residents and businesses the right to self-custody, effectively enabling the usage of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without additional taxation.
When it goes into effect on November 1, the bill will also protect bitcoin miners from new local regulation (such as additional noise regulations) and discriminatory rate schedules, ensuring that both individuals and businesses can mine for bitcoin unimpeded in the state.
By protecting the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday transactions from added taxes, and providing protection from additional regulations at the local level, Oklahoma is making an important move to attract blockchain-based businesses.
Oklahoma isn’t the only state forging the trail for cryptocurrency rights. Guided by the Satoshi Action Fund, a Bitcoin advocacy organization, both Arkansas and Montana previously passed their own Right to Mine bills.
“Americans should wake up to the incredible political opportunity that is available at the state level,” stated Dennis Porter, CEO of the Satoshi Action Fund, following the bill’s passage on Monday. “Throughout history, multiple movements and industries have utilized the states to deliver powerful victories for their cause, now Satoshi Action is poised to put the bitcoin and digital asset ecosystem onto the same trajectory.”
More broadly, Oklahoma’s bill serves as a step forward in clarity and transparency when it comes to how cryptocurrency will be handled at the state level – both necessary features of the regulation that the industry is in dire need of.
Cryptocurrency regulation has been taking the world by storm over the past few years, with a report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers finding that 42 countries discussed or passed cryptocurrency-related laws in 2023.
And of course there are the dozens of countries around the world that already have cryptocurrency regulations in place, including the UK, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Brazil – and virtually all of the EU.
In other words, other countries have been busy drafting and passing cryptocurrency legislation for years while the U.S. has been waffling at a federal level. The Biden Administration has indicated that they’re looking to move forward with creating a national cryptocurrency regulatory framework, but it’s yet to materialize, and ambiguity over which agency is responsible for regulating cryptocurrency remains.
When there are no regulations protecting the right to own and use cryptocurrency without unfair burdens, it understandably makes individuals, businesses, and investors nervous about dealing with it. As a result, the industry has suffered numerous setbacks following the overreach of the SEC.
In lieu of federal regulation, states such as Oklahoma are taking up the banner for cryptocurrency rights – and moving the needle as they do so. Not only will more blockchain-based businesses consider a move to the Sooner state, investors living in Oklahoma can feel more comfortable moving their assets into the future of money.
