Buy Crypto in Hawaii – Bitcoin Exchange in Hawaii

Is Bitcoin legal in Hawaii?

You shouldn’t worry about breaking the law or bypassing the regulations when purchasing crypto in the Aloha State, since it is perfectly legal. However, the procedure might be a bit more complicated compared to other countries.

To get a better insight into the tussle of purchasing crypto and Bitcoin, let’s go through the short history first.

Up until September 2016, crypto traders could buy and sell bitcoin and other tokens normally similar to the majority of other states. In September that year, the Hawaiian legislature enacted a law that forced crypto exchanges to keep reserves for collateral.

According to this rule, if a bitcoiner from Hawaii owned BTC in the amount of $10,000, the crypto exchange had to keep $10,000 in cash for that customer. As a result, exchanges that complied with this law would lose a huge amount of money.

Despite exchanges’ attempts to negotiate a better deal with legislators to enact a more favorable law, all the new bills were halted.

August 2020 was a beam of hope as the Hawaii Division of Financial Institutions launched a pilot program named Digital Currency Innovation Lab (DCIL) by which 12 crypto exchanges were granted a special license-free status. CEX.IO Bitcoin exchange platform was one of them.

According to this program, crypto exchanges were allowed to do business in the State of Hawaii without its rigid money-transmitter license for a period of two years. It is supposed to end on June 30, 2022.