California Gov. Jerry Brown endorsed Bitcoin on Saturday by signing a bill that repeals the state's prohibition on using currencies other than the dollar.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Brown did not comment on the new legislation, but Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, the bill's author, released a statement earlier this month that read in part, "In an era of evolving payment methods, from Amazon Coins to Starbucks Stars, it is impractical to ignore the growing use of cash alternatives. This bill is intended to fine-tune current law to address Californians' payment habits in the mobile and digital fields."
The bill, AB 129, was introduced in part as a response to clashes between the state and Bitcoin outfits.
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Last year, The Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes education about how to use the digital currency, was threatened with major fines by The California Department of Financial Institutions for "engaging in the business of money transmission without a license or proper authorization."
The department, which oversees banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions, will now have no standing to levy such fines against Bitcoin-related businesses. Many had worried that other forms of alternative currency like Starbucks Stars or community currencies among local merchant districts would come under fire after Bitcoin, but that scenario is unlikely if not impossible now.
Reuters reported that the new law was signed just days after Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, once the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, was approved to begin bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. after it was hacked and lost more than $500 million worth of the currency.
The law also comes just weeks after Apple announced it would soon allow Bitcoin apps on its mobile App Store, which had previously been prohibited.
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