New Hampshire State Consultant Keith Ammon launched laws to create a strategic reserve of digital belongings with a mean yearly market cap of over $500 billion and US-pegged stablecoins to the state treasury, in accordance with a invoice launched on Jan. 9.
The invoice caps investments in these various belongings at 10% of the whole public funds, roughly $360 million, in accordance with the treasury ending steadiness as of June 30.
Moreover, the invoice highlights that these belongings should be held via “safe custody options,” which guarantee unique entry to cryptographic non-public keys, certified custodians, and registered exchange-traded merchandise (ETP).
ETPs should be authorised by regulatory our bodies such because the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC).
Solely Bitcoin meets the necessities
Based on CryptoSlate information, solely Bitcoin (BTC) meets the market cap requirement within the proposed laws for cryptocurrencies. The state treasury may also add stablecoins like Tether USD (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).
The invoice additionally permits the state to put money into conventional valuable metals like gold, silver, and platinum along with crypto.
The proposal additionally opens the door for New Hampshire to have interaction in staking, though Bitcoin is the one crypto making the lower and isn’t based mostly on a proof of stake consensus mechanism.
By integrating staking, New Hampshire could be prepared so as to add crypto reminiscent of Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) in a situation the place their market caps meet the factors, and earn passive income based mostly on their holdings.
Moreover, the invoice proposes lending digital belongings as another choice, offered the state retains authorized possession and works with third-party suppliers in each instances.
Not sneaky
Satoshi Motion Fund CEO and co-founder Dennis Porter welcomed the invoice and said that it added the excessive market cap requirement to restrict state funding in Bitcoin. He defined that calling the asset by title within the invoice is unattainable in some US states.
In response to feedback that this was a “sneaky method” so as to add Bitcoin to state treasuries, Porter defined:
“It’s not a ‘sneaky’ method. Some states would require us to develop tech impartial payments which is quite common in coverage. It’s a method to cut back political friction. Some payments will likely be Bitcoin unique, some will likely be based mostly 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 determine a Bitcoin strategic reserve. Porter mentioned 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 launched related laws in Pennsylvania on Nov. 14, 2024, and Consultant Giovanni Capriglione adopted 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 determination.
