Texas lawmakers have raised the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) bill to the final stage, which could make it the third U.S. state crypto reserve. The move follows the steps of Arizona and New Hampshire, which recently signed two SBR bills.
The fate of Texas Bitcoin Reserves will be decided by June 2
On Wednesday, the Texas House Delivery Government Efficiency Committee (DOGE) passed Senate Bill 21 (SB 21), heading to the next legislative phase.
Sponsored by State Senator Charles Schwertner, the bill aims to build a Texas strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve that allows the state’s auditor general to invest in crypto assets at a market capitalization of at least $50 billion over the past twelve months.
The House Committee passed SB 21 by a 9-4 vote, without any amendments, and without more recommendation committees, it will continue to carry out the final House vote. It is worth noting that the bill swept the Texas Senate with a 25-5 vote two months ago.
Texas advances SB 21 to the final voting stage. Source: Bitcoin Laws on X
Pierre Rochard, CEO of Bitcoin Bonds, confirmed that Texas may have SBR, but pointed out that “the big question is how much BTC will be obtained.”
It is worth noting that Senator Schwertner initially submitted crypto legislation in January because of Senate Bill 778 (SB 778), which imposes an annual cap of $500 million on BTC purchases and implements more restrictive oversight and security measures.
In February, he called the bill SB21, removed annual purchase limits and expanded the scope of legislation to include other crypto assets with a market cap of $500 billion.
Bitcoin law founder Julian Fahrer suggested that the final decision of the Texas legislature on June 2 should be known within the next three weeks. If the legislation passes through all members of the House to vote, it will be headed to the governor’s desk to sign or reject it.
The US SBR competition continues
Texas follows the steps of New Hampshire and Arizona, which became the top two states with strategic bitcoin reserves in the United States. On Tuesday, New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte announced that she had signed the House Bill (HB 302) into law that allows the state to invest up to 5% of its public funds in digital assets and have a market cap of at least $50 billion, such as BTC and precious metals.
Similarly, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed Bill 2749 (HB 2740) on Wednesday, “Technically, AZ created AZ’s first crypto protection zone”, detailed Bitcoin law. The legislation does not allow investment, but allows the state to transfer unclaimed assets, airdrops and deposit rewards to the reserves.
The policy tracking platform confirmed that this is a major move because it shows that Governor Hobbs was “willing to make pro-Claterto legislation” after last week’s veto of Senate Bill 1025 (SB 1025).
As Bitcoiners reported, the governor rejected the “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act” because crypto assets are too “untested” for the state’s pension funds. The bill would have allowed Arizona’s public funds, such as state treasurers or state retirement systems, to invest up to 10% of its managed assets in cryptocurrencies, focusing on BTC.
Hobbs’ crypto-friendly symbol is crucial, as another SBR 1373, which does not include pension fund investment, headed to her desk after passing the final Senate vote on May 6.
BTC trades at $99,480 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured images from Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com
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