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- South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has signed S. 163 into law, giving crypto users and businesses stronger legal protections.
- The law protects the payment of digital goods, self-storage through strong wallets and prohibits additional state or local taxes on the crypto used for payment.
South Carolina has moved forward on a pro-crypto front. Governor Henry McMaster signed S. 163 into law Tuesday, amending state law to give individuals and businesses clearer protections when using the digital economy.
Crypto payments and self storage get legal protection
A new law he says individuals and businesses cannot be prevented from accepting digital goods as payment for goods and services. Those words are important. It doesn’t just tolerate crypto at the edge. It provides merchants and users with a solid legal basis to treat digital assets as a valid payment method within the government.
The bill also protects the use of self-made bags and hard bags for personal protection. In fact, South Carolina residents cannot be prevented from having their digital assets outside of a central platform. This is one of the most difficult aspects of the crypto policy debate.
After exchange failures, unsuspended accounts and forced disputes, self-control has become more of a technical skill. For many users, that is the biggest promise of crypto.
For businesses, the law provides a clear place for the government. A businessman who wants to accept Bitcoin, stablecoins or other digital assets now have a clear guarantee that the payment method itself cannot be blocked by government policy.
It does not remove solid parts. Federal tax laws still apply. Compliance is still required. Questions about money never end. Businesses accepting crypto still have to manage accounting, volatility, returns and conversions to dollars. But the law mitigates one important risk: the government’s gradual reluctance on the part of startups to accept or own digital assets.
Opposition to CBDC increases political power
S. 163 also taps into the increasingly political debate against central bank digital currencies. Several states in the US have similar guidelines, which often reflect that CBDCs as a potential threat to financial privacy, private sector payments and individual financial control.
South Carolina’s law focuses on the use of digital assets rather than introducing a state crypto program. It also exempts cryptocurrencies from being used to pay any other taxes, deposits, assessments or fees imposed by governments or governments.
That part is not just symbolic. Without it, crypto payments can be acceptable in theory but unpleasant in practice, if users face additional government or local fees for choosing digital assets instead of a card or bank transfer.
The measure does not make cryptocurrencies legal. Nor does it force businesses to embrace the digital economy. The store can still choose the payment methods that will work for it. What the law does is prevent the government from investing in cryptocurrencies and keeping them in a more restricted category than is necessary.
Time is also important. US crypto policy is deeply divided, with the federal government, Congress and state legislatures moving in different directions. South Carolina is now indicating that, at least at the state level, it wants to protect crypto startups before more state laws are enacted.
