Cryptocurrencies and Cannabis definitely have a lot in common. Both industries are relatively new in the market and unfortunately, still quite misunderstood and many banks and investors usually hesitate in doing business with them.

That is why a new California based bill might be great news for both.

Californian assembly member Phil Ting wants to help change this negative outlook towards both the industries by allowing cannabis based businesses to give in their taxes via cryptos. If banks won’t do the job, let cryptos do it for them. Not only will this make the process easier for local cannabis enterprises but also much safer.

In a news report by CBS Sacramento, assemblyman Ting said, “You have stores with cash and then you have at times warehouses with cash and the amount of cash they have is just very difficult to secure.” He further added that, “It’s dangerous enough transferring our product around. It makes it doubly dangerous transferring all the cash around.”

Since banks, which usually act as intermediaries are out of the picture, cannabis business owners are more vulnerable to thieves as they pay their taxes in lots of cash. However, if this bill is implemented as the law, this would mean that cannabis enterprises could then pay their taxes via digital asset platforms and services and that too by 2020.

This bill would potentially be applicable and quite useful to other US states apart from California where the recreational use of cannabis is legal such as Washington, Alaska, Colorado and Oregon among others.

Talking about how this danger could extend to local communities, assemblyman Ting added, “A small cannabis store just like a small storefront. They’re in a residential neighborhood. There are people who live there who are all around. If something happened that was potentially violent or dangerous, there could be repercussions for that neighborhood.”

Although this proposed bill only talks about aiding the local cannabis market, the ability to pay your taxes via cryptos is not an entirely new concept as digital platforms like BitPay are already accepted in the state of Ohio since 2018. By signing up at OhioCrypto.com, you can now pay your taxes in digital tokens with ease.

However, this legislation is strictly confined to the state of Ohio and greater adoption across the US might take a bit more time. Still, we’re excited to see how the unlikely partnership between these two underdogs pans out.

For more updates, stay tuned into this space!