In a highly unexpected development, the Louisiana House of Representatives (the lower arm of the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana) has passed a bill praising Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto on the milestone of bitcoin hitting a $1 trillion market cap.
The bill, passed on April 22 its titled, “Commends Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry,” and was enrolled and signed by House of Representatives Speaker Mark Wright. Rep. Wright has been a vocal Bitcoin and blockchain proponent and is also leading a push to establish a licensing regime for cryptocurrency-related businesses in the state.
The new bill was first flagged on Twitter by @nic_carter and represents a legislative resolution to “commend Bitcoin for its success in becoming the first decentralized trillion-dollar asset and to encourage the state and local governments to consider ways that could help them benefit from the increased use of this new technology.”
The bill recognized the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto as Bitcoin’s inventor, with a section that reads,”
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Satoshi Nakamoto for his contribution to economic security.
Another section of the bill highlights the security of Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus model and the cryptocurrency’s potential to “replace gold as a monetary reserve” since only twenty-one million bitcoins are allowed to be produced.
The bill noted that “as demand for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin increases, there is also an increased need for community currencies (such as Louisiana’s Moxey), which help facilitate local transactions or exchanges within groups with common needs.”
While the latest move seems to be single-handedly led by Rep. Mark Wright, it represents the first time that a government has passed a bill giving credit to Satoshi Nakamoto’s novel invention of Bitcoin. Will it be the first of many, and will Satoshi ever win the Nobel Prize?
