by Brian Doherty at Reason: New Hampshire’s governor Chris Sununu (R) signed into law this month a bill that exempts “Persons who engage in the business of selling or issuing payment instruments or stored value solely in the form of convertible virtual currency or receive convertible virtual currency for transmission to another location” from the state’s existing regulations on money transmitters. (They shall still be subject to the state’s general consumer protection law.)
According to one of the bill’s co-sponsors, and a participant in the Free State Project, Rep. Keith Ammon (R-Hillsborough Dist. 40), their intention is that the law would cover those who exchange virtual currency for U.S. dollars, since that would constitute an act of selling “convertible virtual convertible currency” since under standard definitions, “selling” means “exchanging for dollars.”
Rep. Barbara Biggie (R-Hillsborough Dist. 23), a former Western Union employee and vice chair of the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee, introduced the bill, which passed the New Hampshire House 185-170, and its Senate 13-10.
Ammon admits he’s a little surprised it went through so smoothly, and credits the fact that in addition to Biggie. Commerce Committee chair John Hunt (R-Cheshire Dist. 11) supported the bill through committee and beyond. Two different members of the relevant Senate committee admitted publicly to being bitcoin owners. Read More…