Oklahoma has become the first U.S. state to pass a law protecting the right to self-custody Bitcoin.
The new law says citizens cannot be prevented from holding and controlling digital assets using a hardware wallet. It also says that the state government cannot ban or restrict the use of crypto to purchase legal goods and services.
The so-called ‘Bitcoin Rights’ bill—HB3594—was signed into law by Oklahoma’s Republican governor Kevin Stitt Monday, and the non-profit Satoshi Action Fund says more states will follow suit.
“I think that at the end of the day, lawmakers across the country are very open to this type of policy,” the fund's CEO and co-founder Dennis Porter told Decrypt.
The bill also mentions digital asset mining, allowing ordinary citizens to take part in the industry—within limits.
“It shall be legal in the State of Oklahoma to participate in home digital asset mining as long as the person engaging in home digital asset mining complies with all local noise ordinances,” the law reads.
Crypto mining involves minting new coins and keeping digital coin networks running. It is an energy-intensive industry that uses large amounts of hardware, space, and resources. Most Bitcoin mining operations today are industrial-scale operations that can generate a lot of noise.
The Satoshi Action Fund created the template for the bill, which has been introduced in 15 other states. The Oklahoma Bitcoin Association helped educate lawmakers on the benefits of Bitcoin and played a major part in making Oklahoma the first state to pass the bill into law, Porter said.
Crypto has become an increasingly hot political topic, and one evolving along partisan lines. At the national level, at least, Democrats typically focus on the potential threats of the technology, while Republicans oppose regulations that they say hamstring innovation in a globally competitive marketplace.
Porter said similar laws are inevitably coming to other states—and that it isn’t a “left versus right” issue.
“Elizabeth Warren is a major figure in the Biden administration,” he said, referring to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken crypto critic. “It’s really like Elizabeth Warren and her banking henchmen friends that are influencing federal policy.”
“As we see the technology growing in attention, and getting more and more scrutiny, we do see folks on the left taking a closer look and not just believing what the mainstream media tells them about this technology,” Porter added.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.