The Texas legislature will consider adopting a Bitcoin strategic reserve following the introduction of a bill Thursday to establish such a program, amid ongoing efforts to do the same on a national level in the United States.
The proposed bill, H.B. No. 1598, was introduced by Texas State Representative Giovanni Capriglione. It seeks to build up a supply of Bitcoin for the state, with the funds held for at least five years without being sold, plus it will allow Texas citizens to make donations to the fund.
"A strategic Bitcoin reserve aligns with Texas’s commitment to fostering innovation in digital assets and providing Texans with enhanced financial security," the text of the bill reads.
The bill adds that the cryptocurrency—held in cold storage, that is, in a wallet on a device not connected to the internet—will not be used to make transactions outside of the state or abroad.
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I can confirm that the state of Texas has filed a bill to officially establish a ‘Strategic Bitcoin Reserve’.
History was made as this was the first time a bill was filed live on X Spaces.
“The comptroller shall prohibit transactions involving foreign countries, entities or individuals outside of Texas, or entities or individuals known to engage in illegal activities,” it reads.
Responding to a question from Decrypt, Capriglione said on a Spaces live event on X (formerly known as Twitter) Thursday that the idea had been brewing for some time.
“We’ve slowly planted the seeds and planted the education for members on it,” he said, adding that “probably the biggest enemy of our investments is inflation.”
Bitcoin is a payments network, launched in 2009 as a way to send money without the need for a centralized authority like a bank. But it has since evolved into more of a store-of-value asset, championed by some as an inflation hedge.
President-elect Donald Trump has previously told people not to sell their Bitcoin, and some politicians are now calling for the government to hold Bitcoin in reserves—like it already does with gold. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming proposed a bill earlier this year to establish such a program for the United States.
Texas has attracted Bitcoin miners in recent years due to its cheap electricity and government incentives aimed at encouraging miners to stabilize the electricity grid.
Now that Donald Trump is set to become the next president of the United States, a strategic Bitcoin reserve is in the cards. The idea was teased by Trump and several other U.S. politicians in July and early August, but lost steam following a Bitcoin price crash.
One of those prominent voices is that of Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming who has been called the “Bitcoin Senator” for her vocal support of the crypto industry. She shared strategic reserve plans at the Bitcoin conferen...
The U.S. government already has a large stash of Bitcoin seized from criminals. Blockchain data firm Arkham Intelligence—which tracks large crypto wallets—puts the current government holdings at over 198,000 Bitcoin. That’s more than $20 billion in the cryptocurrency at today’s prices.
Capriglione said on the Spaces that he’s seen increased interest in Bitcoin and the idea of a strategic reserve since Trump’s election win, as the Republican candidate ran a pro-crypto campaign.
“Since November, obviously, the amount of excitement, desire, and knowledge about not just the Bitcoin reserve, but all of those other things around this technology, blockchain and others, is becoming more in the headspace of legislators,” he said. “And that’s a good thing. That’s because the constituents care about these things.”
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The linebacker will be paid part of his earnings via the Strike app after signing a “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) deal with the University of Southern California (USC).
The exact details of his package are not known, but some college football players, such as Shedeur Sanders, have received estimated payouts of up to $4....
The world’s largest asset manager BlackRock just debuted a new advertisement proselytizing the virtues of Bitcoin, but rather than cheer on the Bitcoin ETF issuer for its efforts, Bitcoiners aren’t happy.
The video, which is housed on the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF page on BlackRock’s website, spends three minutes walking viewers through the evolution of money and key fundamentals of Bitcoin.
One of those fundamentals is Bitcoin’s 21 million fixed token supply.
While the video explains t...
El Salvador may have reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund that will see the tiny country scale back its Bitcoin law—but it’s still going to “HODL.” And it might even step up its BTC buys.
That’s according to Stacy Herbert, the head of El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office, who wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) Thursday that the country may even continue buying the cryptocurrency at an “accelerated pace” going forward.
El Salvador in 2021 made Bitcoin legal tender along with...
