{"id":71663,"date":"2025-06-26T18:39:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T22:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?p=71663"},"modified":"2025-06-26T18:39:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T22:39:46","slug":"texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired by Trump, Texas first to fund state \u2018strategic\u2019 bitcoin reserve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week signed into law the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act, establishing and funding a $10 million store of cryptocurrencies that lawmakers said will position the state for economic prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new law<\/a> places Texas in a class of its own. A handful of state legislatures have made similar proposals that would allow their governments to buy and hold bitcoin and other digital assets, and two other states \u2014 Arizona and New Hampshire \u2014 have passed legislation to create their own crypto reserves, but Texas is the first to fund one with state dollars, and leaders in Austin want the world to know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Sen. Charles Schwertner, the bill\u2019s primary sponsor, in a legislative analysis<\/a> refers to bitcoin as \u201cdigital gold\u201d and calls it a \u201ccritical asset for the future.\u201d After the legislation’s passage last May, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, one of the bill\u2019s sponsors, deemed it a \u201cpivotal moment in securing Texas\u2019 leadership in the digital age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis asset not only strengthens our fiscal sovereignty, but positions Texas as a forward-thinking state prepared for the evolution of global finance,\u201d Capriglione told his fellow lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the law comes with limits. It doesn\u2019t prepare the state to accept bitcoin payments or otherwise integrate cryptocurrency into its finances. It’s designed purely to be a long-term investment. The state isn\u2019t even allowed to cash out profits into its general fund. Doing that, said Bill Maurer, dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, would require amendments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mainly a symbolic move,\u201d said Maurer, a cultural anthropologist who studies the technologies behind financial exchanges. \u201cOne of the goals is really to say: \u2018We are a state that values a certain kind of tech innovation,\u2019 and the hope is it can attract crypto and blockchain innovators and investors to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the mayors who have in recent years made much racket about taking their paychecks in bitcoin or distributing cryptocurrencies to residents<\/a>, Texas\u2019 new law is designed to generate hype, Maurer said. New York Mayor Eric Adams in 2022 repeatedly bragged to the press that he would take his first several paychecks in bitcoin, only to run into legal snags that forced him to instead accept<\/a> an allotment of his $258,750 annual salary in U.S. dollars and then convert it into bitcoin immediately after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another signal that Texas\u2019 bitcoin reserve is symbolic is its size. To invest $10 million under a biennial budget of $338 billion is like someone with a salary of $80,000 sticking $4 in the stock market. And while Texas\u2019 new law requires the state to review its holdings every two years, the plan, as currently written, is not to sell it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople really are looking at crypto these days as a kind of digital asset,\u201d Maurer said. \u201cI compare it more to fine art than to gold, because it\u2019s the kind of thing that only has the value it has because the community of people involved in it are willing to pay that much for it. And there\u2019s still not really anything you can do with it, except money laundering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if Texas\u2019 new law is the economic policy equivalent of a car dealership’s inflatable tube man, it\u2019s an even more overt signal in the world of partisan politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president, whose personal dealings in cryptocurrency now account for the majority<\/a> of his net worth, has sought in recent weeks to integrate more digital assets into the nation\u2019s economy. Mortgage lenders were asked this week<\/a> to consider accepting cryptocurrency holdings when evaluating the financial status of homebuyers. And the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS, Act, which still needs a vote by the House, would reclassify stablecoins, the more reliable cousins of volatile cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, as payment tools rather than securities, which would unleash outcomes that no one as yet can seem to agree on<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schwertner, the Texas bill\u2019s primary sponsor, said in a press notice<\/a> last March that it was President Donald Trump\u2019s leadership that led him to propose the state bitcoin reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Trump has stated unequivocally that he intends to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world,\u201d Schwertner said. \u201cHis visionary leadership on Bitcoin and digital assets has paved the way for rapid American innovation, and Texas is leading the way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas is the first state to fund a “strategic” bitcoin reserve, but its small size and limited uses paint the act as a publicity stunt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":71665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_grayscale_images":true,"grayscale_contrast":0,"sponsored_content":false,"display_author_bio":true,"story_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20649],"tags":[1794,25592,23790,2623,1477,1383,73],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[4696],"class_list":["post-71663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emerging-tech","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-strategic-bitcoin-reserve","tag-stablecoins","tag-donald-trump","tag-greg-abbott","tag-bitcoin","tag-texas","author-colin-wood"],"yoast_head":"\nInspired by Trump, Texas first to fund state \u2018strategic\u2019 bitcoin reserve | StateScoop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Texas is the first state to fund a "strategic" bitcoin reserve, but its small size and limited uses paint the act as a publicity stunt.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inspired by Trump, Texas first to fund state \u2018strategic\u2019 bitcoin reserve | StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Texas is the first state to fund a "strategic" bitcoin reserve, but its small size and limited uses paint the act as a publicity stunt.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-26T22:39:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-26T22:39:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2206109475.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"894\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colin Wood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Inspired by Trump, Texas first to fund state \u2018strategic\u2019 bitcoin reserve | StateScoop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2206109475.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-26T22:39:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-26T22:39:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"Texas is the first state to fund a \\\"strategic\\\" bitcoin reserve, but its small size and limited uses paint the act as a publicity stunt.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/texas-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-trump-cryptocurrency-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2206109475.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2206109475.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":894,\"caption\":\"President Donald Trump shakes hands with Texas Gov. 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