California lawmaker proposes a bill to ban unlicensed bitcoin business

Californian Assembly member, Matt Dababneh, proposed a bill, which if passed would ban unlicensed bitcoin businesses in the state. Although getting a license is not difficult, the difficulty lies in the fact that the bill never classifies the kind of businesses that are included under the newly proposed law.

Therefore, if someone wants to develop a new bitcoin-based feature, they would have to obtain a license from the Commissioner of Business Oversight after paying a non-refundable fee of $5,000, and additive charges extra.

Moreover, the bill exempts government agencies and Fed-approved banking and payment institutions from eliciting the said license. It implies that any new bitcoin start-up, if launched within the state of California, would be facing the bigwigs in its very first, unprofitable steps.

The only relaxation in the bill is for merchant and consumers who use the digital currency only for purchasing goods and services. They have been exempted from obtaining the license.