Bitcoin reserve bills have made significant strides in both New Hampshire and Florida. The House of New Hampshire and Florida’s House Insurance and Banking Committee have respectively pushed forward bills that would allow their states to establish Bitcoin reserves.
The New Hampshire House gave the green light to its Bitcoin reserve bill, HB302, with a 192-179 vote on April 10. The bill is now set to move to the Senate. This makes New Hampshire the fourth state, following Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma, to advance a Bitcoin reserve bill through one of its chambers.
If HB302 gets the approval of the New Hampshire Senate and receives the Governor’s signature, it would permit the state treasurer to invest 10% of the state’s general fund and other designated funds in precious metals and certain digital assets. The bill outlines the criteria for these investments and their custody methods. It stipulates that only cryptocurrencies with a market cap exceeding $500 billion would be eligible for investment, a criterion currently met only by Bitcoin.
In contrast to the support for the bill, Democrat Representative Terry Spahr argued that it was unnecessary and could potentially jeopardize the future security of the state’s digital asset reserves. However, Republican Representative Jordan Ulery defended the bill, citing its potential to generate significant revenue for the state.
Two other blockchain-related bills in New Hampshire, HB310 and HB 639, which deal with stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization (RWA), and blockchain regulation and dispute resolution, respectively, are also making their way through the legislature.
On the same day, the Bitcoin reserve bill in Florida, HB487, received unanimous approval from the state’s House Insurance and Banking Committee. The bill, similar to New Hampshire’s, could allow the state’s chief financial officer and the State Board of Administration to invest up to 10% of certain state funds in Bitcoin.
Republican Representative Webster Barnaby, the bill’s sponsor, urged the Committee to support this “very important bill”, which he believes would put Florida at the forefront of this emerging technology. The bill also grants the state’s financial chief the option to invest in digital assets directly, via certain qualified custodians, or through exchange-traded products (ETPs), and outlines the necessary security and custody requirements.
According to Bitcoin Laws, which monitors the progress of digital asset legislation, Arizona is currently leading the charge to become the first US state to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. As of March 24, two digital assets reserve bills, SB1373 and SB1025, have been approved by Arizona’s House Rules Committee and are now headed for a full floor vote in the state’s House.
