Texas to vote on adding cryptocurrency rights to state Bill of Rights

Residents of Texas (USA) will have the right to use cryptocurrencies if the proposed amendment to the state constitution is approved by the local legislature поправки к закону штата о правах.

It states that “the right of individuals to own, store and use mutually agreed-upon means of exchange, including cash, coins, bullion, digital currency or promissory notes, in the trading of goods and services and entering into contracts shall not be infringed.”

“No government should prohibit or burden the ownership of any form or any amount of money or any other currency,” the document says.

The bill, introduced by State Representative Giovanni Caprileone, passed with 139 votes in favour and two against.

In substance the document is similar to the federal Bill of Rights, which guarantees protection of freedom of speech, religion and the press. The state law also includes the right to expedited judicial proceedings and the right to store and carry weapons for self-defence.

Tom Glass, founder of the Texas Constitutional Enforcement Group, told Decrypt in an interview that another vote in the House is expected, then in the Senate, and a “people’s vote”.

Representatives of the organisation said that the use of alternative forms of money is necessary to protect the financial privacy of Texas residents.

“An unstable dollar could destroy the wealth that Texans have spent their lives building. The state cannot allow the global financial elite to force residents to use their services and pay for them, leaving all of their assets in a single basket subject to devaluation and confiscation,” the statement said.

In April 2023, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz stated that the launch of a national digital currency would be “extremely dangerous” for society.

Months earlier he introduced a bill, prohibiting ФРС from launching a consumer-facing CBDC. This is his second attempt — a year earlier the senator разработал аналогичный документ, который не progressed beyond the committee stage.

Earlier, U.S. Senator Bryan Hughes and Representative Mark Dorazio introduced bills proposing to create a gold-backed Texas state currency.