There would be absolutely NOTHING stopping me from loading up a bitpay card and using that. Nothing. So this isn't even about bitcoin, this is about control. And I agree that it will backfire, as it will encourage the free market to find a solution that skirts that dumb proposed law.
I hope this passes and highlights BTC as a completely viable solution that can hardly be impacted by governments (on/off ramps to fiat excluded), as evidenced by the govt's attempt to ban it for these type of transactions.
This also begs the question: How do they plan to enforce it? It's pretty much a cash dominated industry still...
There is, if the bank that issues the bitpay-branded card (it is not bitpay itself) refuses to process these transactions.
Hmmm, how about if the purchase is listed as "donation"... kind of analogous to how porn companies show up as "innocuous inc" on your statements?
That's between the shop and their merchant bank (which they may not even be able to get at all, which is one of the reasons these businesses often use cash). It may or may not fly, but the point being that ultimately the authority is given to a bank. By using cryptocurrency it removes banks from the equation, and removes the need for their approval. This is a very real difference between actually using cryptocurrency and using something like a bitpay card.
Thanks for helping me see this issue more clearly. Can you see any way for BTC to sidestep this? Or is this a "wait for a free market response to a need" kind of situation? Because I have been very much hoping that there would be a crypto-mj marriage
Using BTC or other crypto directly (not via a bank card) is the way to sidestep it. I'd suggest opposing this law and also encouraging any shops you patronize to accept BTC or other crypto (and when they do, use crypto to pay). As I understand it there are a few here and there already doing it, but it hasn't caught on in big way yet.