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The Conservative politician, who describes himself as a "crypto enthusiast with amateur knowledge", is also urging fellow MPs to gain a better understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain – the technology behind it.

“It just feels like it gets talked about a lot, wherever you go in the UK, and as MPs we have a duty to understand it,” he said.

“Only recently I met with the RNLI which is now accepting charitable donations through cryptocurrency – if we can do that, what’s to stop us being able to pay council tax and other bills with bitcoin?”

Mr Hughes’s comments come on the back of news that the US state of Ohio has launched a scheme to get businesses to register with a website that will allow them to pay corporate taxes with bitcoin.

Once successfully trialled, officials of the Midwest state intend to open up the resource to individuals.

The initiative is the brainchild of Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel who, like Eddie Hughes, is a self-confessed crypto enthusiast with a sense of duty to evangelise about the potential of bitcoin.