Briefly
Senate Invoice 163 was signed into legislation by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on Tuesday.
The invoice successfully bans using CBDCs within the state and protects authorities from collaborating in any CBDC assessments.
It additionally permits for the use and self-custody of crypto belongings within the state, together with providing protections to Bitcoin miners.
People, companies, and Bitcoin miners in South Carolina have earned protections for the use, custody, and mining of digital belongings due to a brand new invoice signed by the state’s governor Henry McMaster.
First launched in January 2025, Invoice 163, additionally successfully bans the state’s use of any central financial institution digital forex (CBDC), often known as a “digital greenback,” and its participation in any CBDC assessments.
“A person or enterprise shall not be prohibited, restricted, or in any other case prevented from accepting digital belongings to buy authorized items or companies; or utilizing a self-hosted pockets or {hardware} pockets, to keep up self-custody of digital belongings,” the invoice reads.
It additionally notes that restrictions can’t be positioned on digital asset mining companies in areas which can be designed for industrial use, as long as they adjust to normal sound air pollution limits and don’t place “extra stress on {the electrical} grid.”
The invoice’s closing part signifies {that a} cash transmitter license isn’t required for miners, node operators, or these growing blockchain software program.
The invoice was handed by the Senate in April 2025 after which referred to the Home Labor, Commerce and Trade Committee that Might—which got here again with a good report practically a 12 months later, this April. In early Might, a Home vote registered 110 “yeas” and 1 “nay.”
The piece of crypto-friendly laws isn’t the one one to hit the final meeting within the state. Final 12 months, a South Carolina consultant launched the Strategic Digital Belongings Reserve Act, additionally recognized as Home Invoice 4256.
That invoice proposed that the state’s treasurer be allowed to allocate as much as 10% of choose public funds into Bitcoin, because the normal meeting discovered “inflation has eroded the buying energy of belongings held in state funds managed by the State Treasurer, in addition to state retirement funds.”
The invoice was referred to the Committee on Methods and Means in March 2025, however has not been additional up to date.
A consultant for South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for remark.
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