New Hampshire And North Dakota Lawmakers Propose Establishing Bitcoin Strategic Reserve

Key Takeaways

New Hampshire and North Dakota have joined the growing list of U.S. states to introduce legislation to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, signaling the continued persistence by lawmakers to diversify state treasuries with the flagship cryptocurrency.

According to an X post by Dennis Porter, CEO of the crypto advocacy group Satoshi Action Fund, the New Hampshire bill was introduced by Representative Keith Ammon, a Republican representing the state's 40th District. The legislation proposes the state's treasury to invest a portion of public funds into digital assets and precious metals.

The bill does not explicitly mention Bitcoin by name, instead classifies it as " digital assets ". Porter stated that it was done that way so lawmakers could further the legislation without causing political friction.

" The intent is for Bitcoin but oftentimes that's not possible depending on the state ," said Porter.

According to the context of the bill, if passed, the state's treasurer would be able to allocate public funds towards acquiring precious metals like gold and platinum, as well as digital assets with a market capitalization of over 500 billion averaged in the previous calendar year.

When those conditions are taken into consideration, Bitcoin is the only crypto asset that qualifies. However, the bill also states that the treasurer may engage in "lending or staking" using "digital assets", which is a nod to the process through which users of proof-of-stake PoS blockchains like Ethereum ETH and Solana SOL earn rewards.

These allocations would be capped at 10 of the state's public funds. According to an annual report, as of June 30, 2024, the New Hampshire Treasury held a balance of 3.6 billion.

Rep. Ammon said that he had a short discussion with State Treasurer Monica Mezzapelle before introducing the bill, but does not know yet whether she is supportive of holding crypto assets in the treasury. Mezzapelle declined to comment on the matter, saying she is yet to review the proposed bill's text.

Ammon said it is urgent that the Granite State "act sooner rather than later" and build a Bitcoin reserve. He has asked state officials to educate themselves about Bitcoin. "The state that is last to build Bitcoin reserves will lose," he said.

If approved, the state treasury could allocate up to 360 million in public funds to crypto.

On Friday, Republican lawmakers, including six Representatives and two Senators, introduced a House Concurrent Resolution HCR encouraging the State Treasurer and State Investment Board of North Dakota to include digital assets and precious metals in its treasury portfolio to hedge against inflation.

The bill championed by Rep Nathan Toman, Rep. Josh Christy, and Sen. Jeff Barta, aims to future-proof the state's financial resources against inflation and other uncertainties by encouraging the government to diversify its balance sheet to include crypto assets, primarily Bitcoin.

As a nod to transparency, the lawmakers have asked the North Dakota Secretary of State to forward copies of the bill to the State Treasurer and members of the State Investment Board, emphasizing the legislature's commitment to facilitate a more diversified and resilient treasury.

In a separate statement commenting on North Dakota, Porter said the bill already has 11 sponsors.

New Hampshire and North Dakota are following in the lead of Pennsylvania and Texas, which became the first U.S. states to introduce a bill proposing the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Recently Alabama's State Auditor Andrew Sorrell and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis advocated for the same decision.

Discussions about a strategic Bitcoin reserve intensified after President-elect Donald Trump, then-presential candidate, promised at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville to make America the crypto capital of the world and order the U.S. Department of Treasury to buy a huge stockpile of Bitcoin to create a national strategic reserve.

Jack Mallers, the CEO of Bitcoin payments firm Strike, said that Trump could sign an executive order declaring Bitcoin as a reserve asset on "day one" of his presidency. However, others like Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz believe that a national stockpile of the apex cryptocurrency is unlikely to materialize.

Polymarket data shows less than a 30 chance that Trump will establish a Bitcoin reserve in his first 100 days in office. This number was as high as 45 in November.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin BTC is trading at 94,306 - up 0.14 in the last 2