Florida State Opens Up Possibility for Businesses to Accept Tax Payments in Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies
Ron DeSantis, the current governor of the state of Florida (United States), said he is evaluating how he can allow companies to pay their taxes using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
During the signing of a bill that will strengthen financial education for high school students, DeSantis reported which has ordered its agencies to study the possibility of introducing cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in the state; primarily, to allow companies to pay their taxes using these digital assets.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced last month that his state will implement cryptocurrency tax payments starting in August, to boost the use and adoption, as well as the utility of crypto assets.
In the last year, the industry of cryptocurrencies, has grown exponentially in the North American country, which is positioned as the current leader in Bitcoin mining, accumulating more than 42 % of the computational power of this blockchain network within its territory, according to the Bitcoin Mining Map from the University of Cambridge.
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Florida wants to be cryptocurrency friendly
Florida's governor has been open to the idea of implementing cryptocurrencies in state tax payments since last year. In the presentation of his budget plan 2022-2023In a mid-December meeting, DeSantis raised the possibility of allowing companies to use crypto assets as a means of payment to meet their tax obligations.
The budget included a total of $700.000 to encourage the adoption and development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in the state, through various pilot programs.
For example, DeSantis proposed a blockchain securities pilot program within the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. He also put forward a proposal to implement blockchain innovation in the Medicaid health insurance program to authenticate transactions and identify potential fraud.
Miami, at the forefront of crypto adoption
Francis Suarez, mayor of Miami, the largest and most populous city in the state of Florida, is leading efforts to regulate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies at the local level. Since last year, Suarez has been pushing different initiatives to bring the potential of cryptocurrencies to its citizens, with the goal of unlocking new use cases for digital assets.
In February 2021, he presented a proposal to implement the payment of municipal salaries and taxes in Bitcoin. Later in March, he reported that he would make Miami the hub of nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining. In May, he revealed that he had conducted his first Your Strategic in Bitcoin and Ethereum, motivated by the massive money printing that the government authorized between 2020 and 2021 to overcome the Covid pandemic.
The mayor of Miami has also become the first American politician to accept his salary in Bitcoin and the first to announce that he will receive his entire retirement pension in this cryptocurrency.
Continue reading: Miami Coin (MIA), a digital currency to transform the way governments are financed
