In brief
- California Assembly unanimously passed AB 1180 allowing state agencies to accept crypto payments, now heading to Senate.
- If enacted, the bill would take effect July 2026 as a pilot program through 2031 before full implementation.
- California would join Florida, Colorado, and Louisiana in accepting cryptocurrency for state obligations.
A new bill has been passed by the California State Assembly which will mean state agencies are able to accept crypto payments if it comes into law.
The vote was a unanimous 68-0 and now moves to the Senate where it can be taken further.
Assembly Bill 1180 (AB 1180), passed on June 2, will require the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) to further develop rules to permit the state fees and transactions under the Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL), so cryptocurrencies can be used.
The DFPI is the regulatory agency that any entity with crypto business must go through to attain a license to operate.
The bill could become effective as soon as July 1, 2026, if it is signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom at the Senate level.
There could be a longer wait to see it active though as the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Assembly member Avelino Valencia, says the pilot program would run until January 1, 2031. It could then become fully operational.
This is not the first bill of this kind. California will join Florida, Colorado and Louisiana who have already accepted crypto payments for certain obligations in years past.
This bill would work alongside AB 1052, aka the “Bitcoin rights” bill, which passed on May 23 and aims to lay out crypto self-custody rights for the state.
All this should make way for using digital financial assets as a legal form of payment in private transactions, without public entities being able to restrict or tax them.
Currently 117 merchants accept Bitcoin payments in California.
This comes following heightened national attention after President Doanld Trump made his pledge to support Bitcoin reserves.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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