Today In Crypto: Arizona Senator Seeks to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender in State; Russia’s Finance Ministry Propose Crypto Regs

A bill proposed by a state senator in Arizona would make bitcoin legal tender there, according to a Coindesk report Friday (Jan. 28).

The bill was called “unlikely” to pass in the report, as the U.S. Constitution doesn’t let states make their own legal tender.

The bill was proposed by Wendy Rogers, a Republican, and would amend the list of legal tender to include bitcoin – which would open it up to be accepted for the payment of debt, public charges, taxes and other things.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Finance has debuted an initiative opposing the Central Bank’s proposal to ban crypto trading and mining, Cointelegraph said.

The Central Bank had previously cited volatility, environmental damage and crime as reasons for proposing the ban.

The bank said regulators needed to implement a total ban and stringent sanctions for those violating it.

The Ministry of Finance went against that, saying the government should regulate crypto instead.

Also, in Nigeria, new ideas to tap into the crypto market to help curb inequality are arising, per the publication.

The idea is that millennials are becoming more important in the economy there, so doing more with crypto, where many of them are involved, could open more opportunities.

That includes MELD, an open-source and non-custodial liquidity protocol for crypto borrowing, partnering with telco Tingo to make low-interest microloans to help with DeFi lending, the report said.

Finally, crypto derivatives exchange FTX has partnered with Dreamfield Sports to let the athletes take their payments in crypto, according to a report from Crypto News.

Dreamfield lets collegiate earn money from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

The platform connects young athletes with commercial brands through smart contracting events, and brands can select which athletes they want to work with.

The report says the FTX card will be connected to the athlete’s FTX U.S. trading account, with payments deducted from the balance of the FTX U.S. account.