Four cryptocurrency companies have been added to Hawaii's list of service providers able to do business in the state through next year.
The Digital Currency Innovation Lab saw its total digital currency companies in the two-year pilot program increase to 15 with the recent addition of BitStop, Provenance Technologies, SoFi, and Uphold.
The companies get to conduct business in Hawaii — allowing the public to utilize their services to purchase, store and trade popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, litecoin and ZCash — without first obtaining a state money transmitter license until June 30, 2022. There is a six-month wind-down period until the end of 2022.
The DCIL program is a partnership between the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Division of Financial Institutions and the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation.
“The DCIL provides a valuable opportunity for digital currency companies to partake in the conversations around legislation pertaining to money transmitters at the state level," said Iris Ikeda, DCCA commissioner of financial institutions, in a statement. "Despite knowing that they have only one year to operate in Hawaii, we received interest from 14 applicants for this second cohort."
The initial dozen accepted to the DCIL was announced in August 2020. The complete list is here. The DCCA told Pacific Business News that Robinhood was removed from the DCIL in January for failing to comply with reporting guidelines, even after several requests by the Division of Financial Institutions.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit Hawaii Theatre Center announced it has begun accepting cryptocurrency donations for the goal of underwriting a performance of The SpongeBob Musical in July. It launched a campaign for $10,000.
The venue pointed out that the IRS classifies cryptocurrency donations as property, and thus not subject to capital gains tax and are deductible on tax returns.
“For the last three years we have been seeking a solution to accept cryptocurrency donations to support the historic Hawaii Theatre, and we’ve finally found a solution that will make us the first organization in the State of Hawaii to publicly accept donations through The Giving Block platform,” said Gregory Dunn, president and CEO of Hawaii Theatre Center, in a statement. “We are fortunate that the State of Hawaii, through the Hawaii Technology Development Center opened the pathway for charities to legally accept these donations.”
Dunn said it would be the first publicly live streamed performance underwritten by cryptocurrency.
