Bitcoin's value seems to be more appreciated nowadays by some politicians and law makers, as the latter have been in the news recently from different countries in the world calling for regulating digital assets, or allowing using them for paying taxes at least.
December 11, 2018 | AtoZ Markets - A member of the British Parliament wants UK residents to be able to pay their local taxes and utility bills using bitcoin. Eddie Hughes, a conservative MP (member of Parliament) for the Walsall North constituency, said this would be a great first step toward mainstream adoption of crypto.
A shout form the UK parliament has recently raised for allowing the Brits to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency, where conservative MP Eddie Hughes said that if that happens, it would be a great step on the way of adopting cryptocurrency at a mainstream level.
The Walsall North constituency representative said in his argument that the time is due for other members of parliaments to “familiarise themselves with cryptocurrencies and blockchain because the revolutionary technologies and the buzz surrounding them aren’t going away”, as per media reports.
Describing himself as "crypto enthusiast with amateur knowledge", the 50-years-old politician sees that it is an indicator of the nation’s desire when people talk about it very often.
“It gets talked about a lot wherever you go in the UK, and as MPs we have a duty to understand it,” said Hughes, a self-proclaimed “crypto enthusiast with amateur knowledge.”, said the experienced lawmaker, who started his parliamentary job the last year.
Hughes referred in his speech to that the British charity RNLL (Royal National Lifeboat Institution recently opened its doors for cryptocurrency donations, citing the step as an encouraging example for widening the margin for using the digital currencies.
“If we can do that, what’s to stop us being able to pay council tax and other bills with bitcoin?” Hughes said.
The U.S congress also discussed crypto regulation recently
Hughes’ suggestion comes in parallel of the move the U.S state of Ohio has recently made, where the latter officially allows businesses in the state today to pay their taxes in bitcoin, as AtoZ Markets reported Nov. 26th.
Ohio’s government signed a partnership with the BitPay platform, which provides payment processing services, through which it manages payment in digital currencies and converts them to dollars in its turn.
Seeing the step as leading by example, MP Hughes is now calling for making the UK follow the same line.
“You’re either ahead of the curve or you’re behind the curve… Our country is in an interesting position right now. We are at a crossroads and we’re about to determine our future – one in which taking the lead in this field could prove very beneficial.”, said the British politician.
It is worth mentioning that calling for using or regulating the use of digital assets is being in demand nowadays more than how it used to be in the past.
In a similar context to the news coming from the UK Parliament, the U.S congress has just discussed a bill for regulating cryptocurrency, where U.S congressman Warren Davidson presented his suggestion paper, which was said would create “asset class” for cryptocurrencies and digital assets, as AtoZ Markets reported on Dec. 05.