State senator pushes bill to make Bitcoin legal tender in Arizona

Wendy Rogers, an Arizona state senator in the United States, has launched bills concerning cryptocurrency, including one that aims to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender in Arizona. 

In a recent tweet, Rogers cited data from investment firm Goldman Sachs that BTC is the best-performing asset in the world and announced that she launched a set of crypto bills.

“Breaking: #Bitcoin is the best performing asset in the world this year according to data from Goldman Sachs.”

Launched my #Crypto bills today, as well as Photo Radar Prohibition, which included nearly all my Republican senator colleagues as cosponsors @JeffWeninger @JDMesnard pic.twitter.com/ueUeFSEybo

— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) January 25, 2023

One of the proposed bills focuses on making BTC legal tender in the U.S. state. If passed into law, BTC will have the same status as the U.S. dollar, becoming an accepted medium of exchange for debt payment, public charges, taxes and dues in the state. 

In 2022, the state senator also introduced a similar bill without success. Despite this, Rogers still continues efforts to push BTC forward in the state. In April 2022, Rogers spoke against central banks and voiced her support for Bitcoin. She tweeted:

Centralized digital money controlled by the central bankers is slavery. Decentralized #Bitcoin is freedom.

— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) April 2, 2022

Apart from this, Rogers also participated in introducing a bill that seeks to make crypto a tax-exempt property. If approved, voters can decide in 2024 if they want tokens that do not represent foreign currencies or the U.S. dollar to be exempt from taxes. 

Related: US Senator Ted Cruz pushes for crypto in Congress … using snacks

On Sept. 7, 2021, El Salvador officially made Bitcoin a legal tender in the country. More than a year later, making Bitcoin legal tender in the country proved beneficial. El Salvador experienced increased tourism in 2022, with 1.1 million people visiting the country in the first half of the year.

On Jan. 22, Brazil and Argentina announced preparations to create a common currency parallel to the Brazilian real and the Argentine peso. Responding to this, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong suggested that moving to Bitcoin may be the right “long-term bet” for both countries.