Over the past few months, the crypto market has been going through the bearish blues. However, this winter market does not prevent the adoption and use of crypto from gaining mainstream acceptance in Minnesota.
Vivian Fang, a professor at the University of Minnesota, said that citizens can now use digital currencies to purchase food and clothes. In Minnesota, places like Home Depot, Whole Foods, and Starbucks also actively accept cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment.
Fang stated, “ Paypal’s inclusion of a crypto payment option has enabled crypto spending at over two million online merchants in the U.S., and large purchases are also gaining traction.” The strategy chief at OpenNode, Joshua Held, said, “Purchases of real estate, travel and digital items, and donations to charity are all being made through cryptocurrency channels.”
Crypto Footprint Expansion by Merchants
Coin Cloud, the ATM provider for cryptocurrencies, has installed over 159 kiosks in Minnesota. According to Chris McAlary, the company has also installed ATMs in North and South Dakota. The company used brick-and-mortar facilities as the customers are most likely to use cash in these areas.
BTC ATM provider Coinsource partnered with Iowa and Kwik Trip, the gas station and convenience store operator offering services at over 500 sites across Wisconsin and Minnesota.
We hear of another instance, that of Chad Capp. He is a gym software entrepreneur whose company is based in Osseo, Minnesota. He is trying to understand how he can allow the members of his gym to make payments via cryptocurrencies through HelloGym, his company’s software.
Fang mentioned that one of the key aspects of the market is the unbanked citizens. This is because you don’t necessarily need a bank account as a crypto wallet operator. As per the data 2019 by the Federal Insurance Corporation, approximately 5.4% (around seven million citizens) of the U.S. population did not have a bank account.
Most of these people came from Asian, Black, and Hispanic backgrounds, who had meager earnings and had to experience frustrating norms to enter the traditional banking system of the States. In such circumstances, using cryptocurrencies offered an easy alternative as the users didn’t need to have any credit score.
Enforcement Procedures
The federal regulators are still scrambling to find an acceptable means of enforcement for this sector. Meanwhile, the state authorities in Minnesota have already been leading the way by offering steps to offer protection to the investors.
In return for offering the state residents the unregistered interest-bearing products, the Minnesota Department of Commerce joined the Securities and Exchange Commission, and 31 states received a settlement worth $100 million. Under this arrangement, the state would get $940,000 from the action.
According to Rep. Byron Donalds, Tom Emmer, the Congressman for Minnesota’s sixth district, would be working hand in hand with Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. They would drive a bill in the Senate to prohibit the U.S. Department of Labor from defining the merits of the assets that the 401(k) plans can include.
