State lawmakers look into cryptocurrency guardrails
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Kansas legislators discussed the possibilities of crypto at a meeting Wednesday.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) presented at the meeting, sharing its stance on cryptocurrency.
“It’s an opportunity to bring jobs to the state, expand economic opportunity and make it easier for people to transact and create businesses,” said ALEC Communications and Technology Task Force Senior Director Jake Morabito.
“I think that legislation has kind of lagged what’s really going on,” Johnson County Rep. Rui Xu said. “I think we’re seeing this a lot with AI right now and just quantum computing too, even. These things are coming, or here, and we have to be aware of what’s going on.”
Some states are starting to take action by making laws around the tech, and the Sunflower State is looking at every angle.
“More and more people are using it for either investments or for peer-to-peer transactions, so states like Kansas need to provide regulatory clarities that way consumers can be protected from threats,” Morabito said.
“Overall the general vibe of the committee is that we want some guardrails but we want to allow for innovation generally here in Kansas,” Rep. Xu said. “But we’ll have to see what this specific legislation looks like.”
Some lawmakers say the dangers are apparent, but they wouldn’t dismiss the potential benefits crypto could carry for the state.
“Kansas being kind of a leader on this is just a huge opportunity for the state to, like I said, open those doors and bring those innovators and good ideas to the state,” ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Task Force Director Alan Jernigan said.
“People associate it with scams or kind of like illicit conduct, but there are legitimate and beneficial uses of it,” Morabito said. “So that’s what states like Kansas can be a leader on is how do we bring novel, innovative businesses to Kansas and grow the economy.”
Wednesday was all discussions, and Kansas legislators plan to dive deeper into crypto in the future.
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