Colorado now accepts cryptocurrency for tax payments
The state of Colorado is accepting cryptocurrency for all state tax payments, Gov. Jared Polis announced Monday.
The cryptocurrency payment option will be offered on all state tax bills, including individual and business incomes.
“We’re just showing again, from a customer service perspective, how Colorado is tech-forward in meeting the ever-changing needs of businesses and residents,” Polis said while at a kickoff event for Denver Startup Week.
For those not familiar with cryptocurrency, it’s the often-volatile digital currency “in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority,” according to the Oxford Dictionary. That cryptography is called blockchain technology.
The state will operate its own ledger of transactions converted to dollars, Polis said.
“Colorado is like the blockchain industry — constantly finding new ways to do things,” he said.
Polis noted that if he wins reelection, Colorado will have been led by an entrepreneur for 16 years after his next term ends. Former Gov. John Hickenlooper started Wynkoop Brewing Co., one of the first brewpubs in the state in Denver’s Lower Downtown (LoDo) neighborhood.
Gov. Jared Polis speaks at the beginning of a news conference, along with notable startup CEOs and co-founders, to celebrate the return of Denver Startup Week on Monday at the Downtown Denver Partnership headquarters, in Denver.
Gov. Jared Polis speaks at the beginning of a press conference, along with notable startup CEOs and event co-founders, to celebrate the return of Denver Startup Week on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022 at the Downtown Denver Partnership headquarters in Denver, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/The Denver Gazette)