North Carolina governor agrees to make Bitcoin law

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory agreed to sign 16 bills today, one of which is House Bill 289, which expands the state's money transmitter law to cover activities involving Bitcoin and other blockchain-based digital currencies.

The bill was introduced in 2015, and the passage of this law represents the culmination of more than a year of efforts by the U.S. blockchain and digital currency industries and local regulators.

(Photo: Pat McCrory, Governor of North Carolina, USA)

Perianne Boring, president of the Council for Digital Commerce (CDC) and one of the bill’s backers, told CoinDesk: “The fact that it made it through the legislative process is a big step forward and it makes North Carolina’s regulation clearer than any other state.”

(Photo: Perianne Boring, President of the Digital Commerce Association)

Pauline said that the members of the Digital Commerce Association include IBM, Microsoft, RRE Ventures, Ripple, etc., and most of them have expressed support for the bill announced by the North Carolina Banking Supervision Office in December.

“This is a business-friendly bill that provides better guidance to businesses,” Pauline continued.

Other members of the industry offer a more measured view.

Jerry Brito, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Coin Center, acknowledged that the bill provides regulatory clarity for businesses in the industry, but he also cautioned that it is not intended to be a model for other states to follow.

“It’s a good compromise, but it’s by no means the best bill,” Brito said.