New Hampshire State Representative Keith Ammon introduced legislation to create a strategic reserve of digital assets with an average annual market capitalization of more than $500 billion and U.S.-linked stablecoins in Public Treasury, according to a bill presented on January 9.
The bill caps investments in these alternative assets at 10% of total government funds, or about $360 million, according to the Treasury. final balance by June 30.
Additionally, the bill emphasizes that these assets must be held through “secure custody solutions,” which ensure exclusive access to cryptographic private keys, qualified custodians, and registered exchange-traded products (ETPs).
ETPs must be approved by regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Only Bitcoin meets the requirements
According to CryptoSlate According to the data, only Bitcoin (BTC) meets the market capitalization requirements of the proposed cryptocurrency legislation. The Treasury can also add stablecoins like Tether USD (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC).
The bill also allows the state to invest in traditional precious metals like gold, silver and platinum in addition to crypto.
The proposal also opens the door for New Hampshire to engage in staking, even though Bitcoin is the only crypto to do so and is not based on a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
By integrating staking, New Hampshire would be willing to add cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) in a scenario where their market caps meet the criteria and would earn passive income based on their holdings.
Additionally, the bill proposes lending digital assets as another option, provided the state retains legal ownership and works with third-party providers in both cases.
Not sneaky
Dennis Porter, CEO and co-founder of Satoshi Action Fund, welcomed the invoice and declared that it added the requirement of high market capitalization to limit state investment in Bitcoin. He explained that it is impossible to call the asset by its name in the bill in some US states.
In response to comments that this was a “sneaky way” to add Bitcoin to public treasuries, Porter explain:
“It’s not a ‘sneaky’ way. Some states will ask us to develop technology-neutral bills, which is very common in politics. This is a way to reduce political friction. Some bills will be exclusive to Bitcoin, others will be based on market capitalization. We are working with legislators to ensure they have confidence in the passage of the bill.
New Hampshire is the latest state to initiate legislation to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Porter said 10 more US states are ready to introduce similar bills focused on a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the coming weeks and months.
Representative Mike Cabell introduced similar legislation in Pennsylvania on November 14, 2024, and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione follow up with similar legislation in Texas less than a month later.
Meanwhile, Alabama State Auditor Andrew Sorrell recently creative proposal a BTC strategic reserve and Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis recommended for the same decision.
