Governor Henry McMaster signed Senate Bill S.163 into law on May 19, 2026, making South Carolina the most aggressive pro-Bitcoin state in the US. The legislation imposes a total ban on state agencies accepting or testing any federal CBDC, establishes tax neutrality for crypto payments — digital assets cannot be singled out for disparate tax treatment — and shields proof-of-work mining operations from discriminatory zoning, noise ordinances, and licensing requirements. The House passed it 110-1, a margin that signals genuine bipartisan conviction rather than a partisan push.
A companion bill, H.4256, would go further still: it would authorise South Carolina's treasurer to allocate up to 10% of unallocated state funds into Bitcoin as an inflation hedge, capped at 1,000,000 BTC. If passed, that would create a structural state-level buyer that doesn't rotate out on red candles — a…
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