Texas is moving ahead in the race among US states to invest public funds in cryptocurrency
The Texas Senate has approved a bitcoin strategic reserve bill, while New Hampshire celebrates success in committee and Utah faces a deadline this week.
Helen Brown, Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Jesse Hamilton on 6 March 2025, 20:33 UTC
What you need to consider:
- Texas and New Hampshire are pushing ahead with initiatives to invest public funds in bitcoin, following momentum generated by President Trump's proposals to create a national cryptocurrency reserve.
- Utah is one vote short of passing a similar bill, but time is running out before the legislative session ends this week.
- This comes after Trump's plan to place several cryptocurrencies in the Federal Reserve has come under fire, with experts stressing that Bitcoin is the only asset comparable to gold.
Several U.S. states are moving closer to investing public money in cryptocurrency projects, spurred by President Donald Trump's announcement of similar intentions at the federal level. Texas is now among the leading candidates.
On Thursday, the Texas Senate approved SB 21, a bill that would allow the state to invest a portion of the public's money in digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC).
According to Texas Senator Charles Schwertner last week, Bitcoin has “proven its reliability through multiple boom and bust cycles,” making it an excellent reserve asset in the face of “devastating national deficits” as well as “inflation and uncertainty,” as Schwertner noted.
New Hampshire also approved a bill Wednesday through a state House committee, House Bill 302, by a 16-1 vote that would allow the state to invest up to 5% of its public funds in Bitcoin and other precious metals. The bill is moving forward, though several more votes are needed for final approval.
Nearly a dozen states are actively working to pass legislation that would allow such investments, while at least five states have encountered problems or vote deficits that have prevented their initiatives from passing.
Utah remained the leader among the various efforts, and was just one vote away from approving the bill and sending it to the governor. However, the legislative session ends this week, leaving little time for the Senate to agree with the House on investing up to 5% of certain state accounts in digital assets with total assets of more than $500 billion. (For now, that’s just Bitcoin.)
If the Utah Senate passes by Friday, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who has previously supported blockchain policy, will have the final say. Otherwise, Utah’s efforts will be delayed for a year, and states like Arizona and Texas could take center stage.
The recent moves come after President Trump again discussed his own plan to create a strategic crypto reserve on Sunday. Trump said the U.S. strategic crypto reserve could include XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA), in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), though many details of the initiative and its implementation remain unclear.
Many industry experts have criticized Trump’s decision to include cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin, arguing that it best fits the characteristics of reserve assets like gold. However, the president has not provided clear guidance on how such a strategy would work — such as how the government would obtain the tokens.
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