South Carolina — Bitcoin and virtual-currency law

• Jurisdiction: State of South Carolina (US)
• Date checked: 2026-10-09 (all statuses below were checked on this date unless another date is given)
• Regulator: Attorney General's Office — Money Services Division (the Attorney General, Alan Wilson, is the Commissioner under the money-services law) and Securities Division
• Legislature: 126th General Assembly (2025–2026) adjourned in 2026; bills not enacted have died; next session January 2027.
• Saved primary sources: sources/states/sc/ (see sources/states/sc/INDEX.md)

At a glance

1. Money-transmitter licensing of virtual currency

• S.C. Code Title 35, Chapter 11 — "South Carolina Uniform Money Services Act" (§ 35-11-100 short title). History: 2016 Act No. 266 (H 4554), effective 2018-05-25; 2024 Act No. 218 (S 1031), effective 2024-07-02, substituted "Uniform Money Services" for "Anti-Money Laundering." Full current chapter saved. [S1]
• CSBS: full MTMA; enacting bills H 5068 / S 1031 (2024); the CSBS table gives effective date 2024-07-02 and its legislative update says 2025-01-01. No virtual-currency title. [S7][S8]
• Money Services Division interpretation, 2018-12-05 (redacted interpretive letter under § 35-11-815, saved): the Act "does not explicitly address activity involving virtual currency"; "monetary value" means "a medium of exchange, whether or not redeemable in money"; virtual currencies "have no intrinsic or set value per unit" and "are not generally accepted as payment throughout the entire economy," so "virtual currencies alone do not qualify as monetary value"; transactions that also involve fiat "may be subject to money transmission regulations"; a crypto-only trading platform that takes no fiat needed no licence. The Division "reserves the right to reassess." [S2]
• The AG's current Money Services FAQ repeats this view and points to the 2018 letter and Order MSD-19003. [S4]

2. Virtual-currency-specific statutes

Act No. 208 of 2026 (S 163, "Cryptocurrency") — new S.C. Code Title 34, Chapter 47. Introduced 2025-01-14; Senate third reading 2025-05-06; House third reading 2026-05-06; ratified 2026-05-14 (R 131); signed by the Governor 2026-05-19; effective on approval. Bill page with ratified text saved. [S6]

• § 34-47-20: no "governing authority" may accept or require payment in a central bank digital currency or take part in a federal CBDC test (privately issued, Treasury-backed stablecoins are excluded from the CBDC definition).
• § 34-47-30: individuals and businesses may not be prevented from accepting digital assets for legal goods and services or from self-custody via self-hosted or hardware wallets; digital-asset payments may not bear any additional tax "based solely on the use of the digital asset as the method of payment" (ordinary taxes that would apply to a dollar transaction still apply).
• § 34-47-40: in industrial zones, local governments may not single out mining businesses (>1 MW) for restrictions or special noise limits, or rezone them without notice and comment; miners may appeal rezoning.
• § 34-47-50: miners must not "place any additional stress on the electrical grid" and must show the Public Service Commission, on request, a power purchase agreement allowing curtailment during grid stress.
• § 34-47-60: no money-transmitter licence is required for mining, running nodes, developing blockchain software (even if it swaps one digital asset for another), or exchanging one digital asset for another without fiat; node operation may not be prohibited; mining-as-a-service and staking-as-a-service are not securities under Title 35.
• § 34-47-70: the Attorney General may still sue over fraudulent mining- or staking-as-a-service offers. [S6]

3. Crypto ATM / kiosk law

• Order MSD-19003, "Virtual Currency and Automated Machines" (AG Alan Wilson as Commissioner, 2019; saved): (A) an ATM operator that acts as a third-party exchanger — receiving the buyer's fiat in exchange for a promise to make it available to a seller — is engaged in money transmission and needs a licence; (B) an ATM where the operator sells or buys virtual currency directly with the customer involves no money transmission, so no licence. [S3]
• No kiosk consumer-protection statute (limits, fee caps, refunds). H 4592 (2026) "Vending of Digital Assets" would have required money-transmitter licences and on-screen disclosures; prefiled 2025-12-16, referred to House Labor, Commerce and Industry, no further action — died with the session. [S5]
• News reports describe seniors in a South Carolina retirement community organizing against kiosk scams (NBC News, 2025). [N1]

4. Tax treatment

• No South Carolina Department of Revenue crypto guidance was found (gap). SC income tax starts from federal taxable income (general knowledge; unverified).
• Act 208 (2026): no extra tax on using digital assets as payment, but normal taxes that would apply to a dollar transaction still apply. [S6]
• H 3751 (2025) — would have excluded digital-asset gains from SC gross income; referred to Ways and Means 2025-01-15; died. [S5]

5. Notable enforcement

• No South Carolina crypto enforcement action was located in this check (gap). (South Carolina's securities regulator took part in 2023 multistate staking actions against Coinbase according to widespread reports — unverified here.)

6. Pending and recently failed bills

All 2025–2026 bills not enacted died when the 126th General Assembly adjourned. [S5][S9]

7. Contested and fringe claims (flagged, not endorsed)

• "Bitcoin is not a medium of exchange." The AG's 2018 position — Bitcoin is not generally accepted and has no set value — is contested by Bitcoin advocates who point to its use for payments; other regulators (Ohio, Pennsylvania) reached the opposite conclusion. [S2] (compare us-state-oh.md, us-state-pa.md) Interpretive dispute.
• Staking-as-a-service is "not a security." Act 208 declares this by statute; the federal SEC under prior leadership argued staking programs were securities, and other states (e.g., New Jersey) still pursue that theory. [S6] (compare us-state-nj.md) Legal dispute.
• Mining "no additional stress on the grid." The statute imposes this duty but does not define how to measure it; critics may see it as unenforceable, supporters as a reasonable condition (no commentary read — unverified).

Sources

Saved full copies are in sources/states/sc/.

• [S1] South Carolina Legislature, Code of Laws Title 35, Chapter 11 (South Carolina Uniform Money Services Act), current. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t35c011.php — retrieved 2026-10-09 — saved sc-code-title-35-ch-11-uniform-money-services-act.html
• [S2] SC Attorney General, Money Services Division, interpretive letter re virtual currency under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2018-12-05 (recipient redacted). https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/01845729.pdf — saved sc-ag-msd-interpretation-2018-12-05-virtual-currency.pdf
• [S3] SC Attorney General, Money Services Division, Order Number MSD-19003, "Virtual Currency and Automated Machines" (2019). https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Bitcoin-ATM-Order-02085245xD2C78.pdf — saved sc-ag-msd-order-msd-19003-bitcoin-atm.pdf
• [S4] SC Attorney General, "Money Services FAQs." https://www.scag.gov/inside-the-office/legal-services-division/money-services/money-services-faqs — saved sc-ag-money-services-faqs.html
• [S5] South Carolina Legislature bill pages (126th session): H 4592, H 4256, H 3751. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/4592.htm (and /4256.htm, /3751.htm) — read 2026-10-09
• [S6] South Carolina Legislature, S 163 (2025–2026) bill page with ratified text, Act No. 208. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/163.htm — saved sc-2026-s163-act-208-cryptocurrency-bill-page.html
• [S7] CSBS, MTMA State Enactments (PDF dated 2026-10-08). https://www.csbs.org/sites/default/files/external-link-files/10.8.26%20MTMA%20State%20Enactments.pdf
• [S8] South Carolina Legislature, 2024 H 5068 (Uniform Money Services Act) bill page. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess125_2023-2024/bills/5068.htm — saved sc-2024-h5068-uniform-money-services-act-bill.html; CSBS MTMA legislative update (August 2026) https://www.csbs.org/mtma-legislative-update-august-2026
• [S9] NCSL, 2025 and 2026 cryptocurrency legislation pages. https://www.ncsl.org/financial-services/cryptocurrency-digital-or-virtual-currency-and-digital-assets-2026-legislation — read 2026-10-09
• [N1] NBC News, "Seniors in an affluent S.C. community face off against crypto scammers" (headline only). https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-carolina-seniors-crypto-scam-bitcoin-atm-rcna189176