Bitcoin roundup: Colorado warms, Iran reportedly halts mining, retaking $40K

"I’d be thrilled to be the first state to let you pay your taxes in a variety of cryptos," says Colorado Governor Jared Polis, speaking at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference. Polis is a longtime fan - in 2014 he became the first U.S. politician to legally accept bitcoin (BTC-USD) for campaign donations (he was a congressman then), and had fun chiding others who were seeking to harshly regulate the cryptocurrency.Polis last night: "Colorado is and will be the center for blockchain innovation in the United States, attracting investments and good jobs and innovators in infrastructure, digital identity, [and] individual data security in the private and public sector."Meanwhile, reports out of Iran say that country's president has called for bitcoin mining operations to halt business until September 22. At issue are power shortages thanks to a draught as summer begins.Remember Ripple (XRP-USD)? That token will allow the first real-time, blockchain-based payments