Legislation was introduced in the Texas House of Representatives Thursday to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, which could serve as a proving ground for the U.S. Treasury.
The proposed bill would enable the state to start building a strategic bitcoin reserve by accepting taxes, fees and donations in bitcoin that would be held for a minimum of five years, Republican State Representative Giovanni Capriglione, announced on an X Spaces event Thursday. The bill aims to provide a way to strengthen the state’s fiscal stability and establish it as a leader in bitcoin innovation.
“Probably the the biggest enemy of our investments is inflation,” Capriglione said. “A strategic bitcoin reserve, investing in bitcoin, would be a win-win for the state.”
“I just filed the bill — it’s a bill to be entitled ‘An act relating to the establishment of a bitcoin reserve within the state treasury of Texas and the management of cryptocurrencies by governmental entities,'” he said later.
Texas is not only the second largest economy in the U.S. and the eighth largest in the world, it also has the highest concentration of bitcoin miners in the country. The hope is that some of them will begin paying their taxes in the cryptocurrency. The initial proposal does not include a direct bitcoin purchasing strategy.
“My goal is to make this bill as big and as broad as possible,” Capriglione said. “This initial step is to allow some optionality and flexibility on it but if I am able to get support from other legislators, we will make it even stronger.”
The drumbeat for a national strategic bitcoin reserve – one of President-elect Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly campaign promises – has grown louder since the election. Bitcoin has rallied more than 45% as hopeful investors bet the establishment of one will further boost its price.
Bitcoin has climbed more than 45% since the U.S. presidential election
There’s some doubt that the U.S. will actually establish a bitcoin reserve, or if it does, that it will be the first. Nevertheless, the idea of it could be a positive market catalyst in the next year and drive other nation states to establish one whether or not the U.S. follows through.
It’s “unlikely to occur but it helps get animal spirits back into the market,” Needham’s John Todaro told CNBC, adding that it’s also “unlikely to drive material price gains as we do not expect the U.S. government will purchase bitcoin in any meaningful capacity, but it’s an item that drives excitement and optimism.”
Meanwhile, states are keen to be the ones charting this new territory. Pennsylvania was the first state to introduce a strategic bitcoin reserve bill last month, and as many as 10 more states and four countries are in discussions to introduce similar legislation in the coming months, according to Porter.
Porter, who worked with Capriglione on the draft bill, has also aided lawmakers in other states on bitcoin-related legislation.
Oklahoma, Louisiana, Montana and Arkansas have passed laws to protect the right to mine, right to self-custody, right to run a node, and the right to peer-to-peer transactions. Satoshi Action Fund has had 30 bill introductions so far, including Pennsylvania’s strategic bitcoin reserve bill introduced last month.
In July, Trump said “it will be the policy of my administration to keep 100 percent of all bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires in the future … as a core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” speaking to attendees at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. At the same event, Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis revealed her BITCOIN Act to create a national strategic bitcoin reserve.
