Bitcoin Reserve Clamor Among US States Risks Being No More Than Just Noise
(Bloomberg) -- Instead of waiting to see whether Donald Trump follows through on his endorsement of a national “strategic’ Bitcoin stockpile, states are taking matters into their own hands.
Most Read from Bloomberg
How Sanctuary Cities Are Preparing for Another Showdown With Trump
Texas HOA Charged With Discrimination for Banning Section 8 Renters
NYC Commuters Get New Way to Dodge Traffic: $95 Helicopter Rides
Deadly Landslide of Garbage Displays Uganda's Missed Opportunity
As local legislative sessions get underway, eight states have already introduced bills proposing crypto reserves. And while the push to ensure that state governments hold Bitcoin in one form or another has generated momentum among long-time crypto advocates, the clamor may not be more than just loud noise.
“The Blockchain people are way off base here,” Randy Erben, an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said of the strategic reserve proposal in Texas. “It’s just not one of the priority issues for leadership on either side of the aisle or for the governor. They may be interested in it, but this is not going to be a must-pass deal with a low bill number.”
Texas has been working on reserve legislation for the last three years, according to Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council. Its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill, filed by Representative Giovanni Capriglione in December, would enable the Lone Star State to accept Bitcoin donations from Texans and US-based companies to build its reserve. States like Massachusetts, Wyoming and New Hampshire have recently followed suit. According to one lobbyist, at least 13 states in total are poised to propose similar legislation.
“We are working to pass our bill before President Trump creates a national Bitcoin reserve,” Bratcher said. “We want to make sure that the US is the jurisdiction for the next digital revolution, but we want Texas to lead the way. It’s a little bit of friendly competition.”
One of the major hurdles that states like Texas face in passing strategic reserve legislation, Erben said, is that many local governments don’t accept Bitcoin as currency.
“The state banking department doesn’t consider virtual currencies as currency, so it doesn’t regulate it as such,” Erben said. “The only virtual currency that the state considers to be a transmission of money in Texas is a third-party exchange or stablecoin.”
Nevertheless, crypto-friendly states like Florida have also re-ordered their priorities in the upcoming legislative session to place creating a Bitcoin strategic reserve at the top of the agenda.
“If Kamala Harris had won, we would’ve been in a defensive posture of making sure crypto isn’t driven from the United States,” said Samuel Armes, president of the Florida Blockchain Business Association. “But now we can be as forward-looking as possible to see how we can get the state government to double down and start investing in these assets.”
President Trump and Senator Cynthia Lummis first touted the idea of a national strategic Bitcoin stockpile at an industry conference in Nashville in July. The bill from Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, calls for the US to acquire 1 million Bitcoin, while Trump’s proposal requires the government to maintain ownership of the roughly 200,000 tokens that the US already possesses following asset seizures. The initiative is part of a slew of promises made by the president-elect’s campaign to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Erben added that state legislatures meet fairly infrequently for a short period of time. Texas’s meet every two years instead of annually – meaning that the legislature already has to wait for a longer amount of time to address issues such as school funding and fixing the electric grid in the upcoming five months. Asking lawmakers to get behind any initiative related to what many still consider a novel technology adds to the uphill battle, according to Erben.
“Legislators don’t like to vote on new things,” Erben said. “They’d be happy for the federal government to do whatever they’re going to do with virtual currencies, but lawmakers will want to see it work someplace else before they consider taking it on.”
Dennis Porter, the Portland, Oregon-based founder of non-profit and Bitcoin advocacy group Satoshi Action Fund, says he’s been key driver on much of the effort to introduce strategic Bitcoin reserve legislation in a handful of other states. Founded in 2022, Porter told Bloomberg News that his organization has “dramatically expanded the scope of work on states buying Bitcoin” since the November election by working with local legislators to introduce strategic reserve bills.
But touting legislation isn’t the same as passing it, said Dominic Folino, founder of the Pennsylvania Blockchain Association. In November, Pennsylvania Representative Mike Cabell introduced a bill with assistance by the Satoshi Action Fund that would allocate up to 10% of Pennsylvania’s Treasury reserves into Bitcoin – but only after he lost the election for the next term. Folino said that the presence of outside organizations has hindered the state’s ability to push for actionable crypto legislation, particularly in a state that has not been historically crypto-friendly.
“It’s one thing when you have a well thought out strategy from Pennsylvanians on a reserve bill for Pennsylvania, but it’s another if someone from Oregon comes in and says, ‘Here’s a great bill and you should do it,’” Folino said. “Just because someone puts legislation on X, doesn’t mean it’ll pass.”
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
Walgreens Replaced Fridge Doors With Smart Screens. It’s Now a $200 Million Fiasco
Giant Batteries Are Transforming the World’s Electrical Grids
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.