tl;dr
New Hampshire State Representative Keith Ammon has introduced a bill proposing a strategic reserve of digital assets and US-pegged stablecoins for the state treasury. The bill suggests investing in assets such as Bitcoin, stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin, as well as traditional precious metals. ...
New Hampshire State Representative Keith Ammon has introduced a bill proposing a strategic reserve of digital assets and US-pegged stablecoins for the state treasury. The bill suggests investing in assets such as Bitcoin, stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin, as well as traditional precious metals. It also allows for staking and lending digital assets.
The proposed legislation aims to limit state investment in Bitcoin by setting a high market cap requirement. This initiative in New Hampshire follows similar bills in other US states, with more states expected to introduce comparable legislation in the near future.
The bill caps investments in these alternative assets at 10% of the total public funds, roughly $360 million, according to the treasury ending balance as of June 30. Additionally, the bill highlights that these assets must be held through “secure custody solutions,” which ensure exclusive access to cryptographic private keys, qualified custodians, and registered exchange-traded products (ETP). ETPs must be approved by regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
According to CryptoSlate data, only Bitcoin (BTC ) meets the market cap requirement in the proposed legislation for cryptocurrencies. The state treasury can also add stablecoins like Tether USD (USDT ) and USD Coin (USDC ). The bill also allows the state to invest in traditional precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum in addition to crypto.
The bill proposes lending digital assets as another option, provided the state retains legal ownership and works with third-party providers in both cases.
Satoshi Action Fund CEO and co-founder Dennis Porter welcomed the bill and stated that it added the high market cap requirement to limit state investment in Bitcoin. He explained that calling the asset by name in the bill is impossible in some US states.
New Hampshire is the latest state to initiate legislation to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve. Porter said that 10 more US states are ready to introduce similar bills focused on a Bitcoin strategic reserve in the coming weeks and months. Representative Mike Cabell introduced similar legislation in Pennsylvania on Nov. 14, 2024, and Representative Giovanni Capriglione followed with similar legislation in Texas less than one month later. Meanwhile, Alabama’s State Auditor Andrew Sorrell recently proposed creating a BTC strategic reserve, and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis advocated for the same decision.