Washington D.C. Accepts Crypto As Legal Fees

The United States’ capital, Washington D.C. recently revealed that the cryptocurrencies would be accepted as payment for the city’s lawyers. 

Washington D.C., Fourth City To Allow Crypto Payments For Lawyers

Once regarded as a darknet coin, cryptocurrencies have evolved over the years. Previously, people associated cryptocurrencies with the purchase of the items available on the dark web which included drugs. Now, these virtual assets have been widely used as means of payments. People have even started investing their savings into the crypto market.

In more recent updates, crypto is now being accepted as legal fees. The capital of the United States, Washington D.C. now allows its lawyers to accept payments in cryptocurrencies. The D.C. Bar wrote an “Ethics Opinion” [378] pointing out that it was “not unethical” for lawyers to get paid in crypto. However, these lawyers are expected to abide by certain rules before doing so.

As per the report, the fee that lawyers charge is required to be reasonable and should be formulated keeping in mind, the requirements of the clients, the experience level of the attorney, and the nature of the representation. Furthermore, the report highlighted the fact that there wasn’t a standard for reasonableness that prevented lawyers from accepting volatile assets like cryptocurrencies as a payment method. The report further read,

“We conclude that payment of fees in cryptocurrency is more akin to payment in property than payment in fiat currency.”

Washington D.C. is the fourth city to allow the use of crypto as legal fees. Other cities like North Carolina, New York as well as Nebraska have already set up crypto for legal fees. The D.C. bar further revealed that the latest rule reportedly exhibits the ‘fiduciary nature of the lawyer-client relationship.’

Furthermore, the bar requires the lawyers to be aware of the crime that surrounds these crypto assets. The D.C. Bar further stated,

“Cryptocurrency is, ultimately, simply a relatively new means of transferring economic value, and the Rules are flexible enough to provide for the protection of clients’ interests and property without rejecting advances in technologies.”

The latest news comes as a reminder to the crypto industry that these digital assets are evidently making headway in terms of adoption.