Bitcoin Ban in Marijuana Industry Considered By Washington State Senate
Ann Rivers, a Washington State senator, introduced a bill last week to ban the use of Bitcoin in purchasing or selling marijuana-related products. Rivers claims that Bitcoin isn’t transparent enough to be used as the underlying currency of the marijuana industry. She noted in the bill that Bitcoin does not have an actual value recognized by the US government. The bill reads: “‘Virtual currency’ does not include the software or protocols governing the transfer of the digital representation of value or other uses of virtual distributed ledger systems to verify ownership or authenticity in a....
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Washington State and Colorado State have become the first states in America to legalize marijuana at the state level. The beginning of green celebrations in the aforementioned states at the beginning of this month led to a satirical piece claiming 37 dead due to marijuana legalization. Many people have applied for commercial licenses from their states to legally grow and distribute marijuana. Concurrently, many followers of legal marijuana news have noted that the majority of legal marijuana dispensaries, medical in most places, recreational in Washington and Colorado, must pay their state....
The cannabis industry in the United States may soon face a ban on cryptocurrency usage. Marijuana, the wonder plant as some call it is going through a liberation phase in the United States. In 37 out of 50 states have relaxed the laws regarding the sale and use of marijuana and its derivatives in the past few years. Most of these states approve of the medical use of marijuana while a handful also makes an exception for recreational use. But these relaxations come with riders to make it difficult for businesses dealing with cannabis. According to reports, Senators Steve Conway and Ann....
A new bill filed in the Washington State Senate is seeking to prohibit local marijuana businesses from using bitcoin. Sponsored by Senators Steve Conway and Ann Rivers, SB 5264 seeks to amend some of the state’s rules governing the sale and distribution of marijuana products. The move comes more than four years after Washington voters passed a ballot measure legalizing marijuana in November 2012. Under the proposed rule, businesses that work in the local marijuana industry would not be allowed to either pay for goods with digital currency or accept those kinds of payments from customers.....
Legislators gathered on Wednesday afternoon to hold a public hearing on a measure that would prohibit cannabis firms in the state of Washington from working with bitcoin. CoinDesk reported last week that SB 5264, a bill presented by two Washington state senators, would ban businesses working in the marijuana industry from both selling products for bitcoin as well as purchasing them with the digital currency. At the time, primary sponsor Sen. Ann Rivers said that the measure was intended to boost financial transparency to the state’s cannabis sector as part of an effort to “help move it out....
Silk Road may be dead, but in at least one Washington State city, people can still buy marijuana and related products using bitcoin. Medical marijuana dispensary Kouchlock Productions, which opened on Monday February 3, began accepting bitcoin for its wares this week. The dispensary, based in Spokane, is said to already have sold the drug in several bitcoin transactions. In Washington State, medical dispensaries were legalized in 1998, under initiative 692. This allows dispensaries to sell the drug to patients with terminal or debilitating medical conditions including cancer, HIV-positive....