New Hampshire State Consultant Keith Ammon launched laws to create a strategic reserve of digital belongings with a median yearly market cap of over $500 billion and US-pegged stablecoins to the state treasury, in line with a invoice launched on Jan. 9.
The invoice caps investments in these different belongings at 10% of the entire public funds, roughly $360 million, in line with the treasury ending balance as of June 30.
Moreover, the invoice highlights that these belongings have to be held by “safe custody options,” which guarantee unique entry to cryptographic personal keys, certified custodians, and registered exchange-traded merchandise (ETP).
ETPs have to be authorized by regulatory our bodies such because the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC).
Solely Bitcoin meets the necessities
In line with CryptoSlate information, solely Bitcoin (BTC) meets the market cap requirement within the proposed laws for cryptocurrencies. The state treasury can even add stablecoins like Tether USD (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).
The invoice additionally permits the state to put money into conventional treasured metals like gold, silver, and platinum along with crypto.
The proposal additionally opens the door for New Hampshire to interact in staking, regardless that Bitcoin is the one crypto making the lower and isn’t primarily based on a proof of stake consensus mechanism.
By integrating staking, New Hampshire can be prepared so as to add crypto comparable to Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) in a state of affairs the place their market caps meet the standards, and earn passive income primarily based on their holdings.
Moreover, the invoice proposes lending digital belongings as an alternative choice, supplied the state retains authorized possession and works with third-party suppliers in each instances.
Not sneaky
Satoshi Action Fund CEO and co-founder Dennis Porter welcomed the invoice and stated that it added the excessive market cap requirement to restrict state funding in Bitcoin. He defined that calling the asset by identify within the invoice is unattainable in some US states.
In response to feedback that this was a “sneaky approach” so as to add Bitcoin to state treasuries, Porter explained:
“It’s not a ‘sneaky’ approach. Some states would require us to develop tech impartial payments which is quite common in coverage. It’s a solution to scale back political friction. Some payments might be Bitcoin unique, some might be primarily based on market cap. We work with lawmakers to make sure they’ve confidence within the invoice passing.”
New Hampshire is the newest state to provoke laws to ascertain a Bitcoin strategic reserve. Porter stated that 10 extra US states are able to introduce related payments targeted on a Bitcoin strategic reserve within the coming weeks and months.
Consultant Mike Cabell introduced related laws in Pennsylvania on Nov. 14, 2024, and Consultant Giovanni Capriglione followed with related laws in Texas lower than one month later.
In the meantime, Alabama’s State Auditor Andrew Sorrell lately proposed creating a BTC strategic reserve, and Florida Chief Monetary Officer Jimmy Patronis advocated for a similar choice.
