$BTC Texas approves law to protect future Bitcoin reserve

Greg Abbott signed a law that will legally protect any state fund in Bitcoin that is created in the future.

The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed Bill HB 4488, which grants legal protection to a potential state reserve of Bitcoin, even though it does not formally exist yet. The legislation, passed last Friday, ensures that any fund of this kind—if it is ever created—will be excluded from future laws that seek to dissolve it or incorporate it into the state’s general budget.

With this measure, Texas becomes one of the first states in the United States to approve a legal framework specifically designed to safeguard a potential reserve in Bitcoin, in a context where several states are already exploring similar initiatives. The bill establishes that such funds, if established through future legislation, would have the character of a “permanent fund” and could not be claimed or assigned to other state agencies.

SB 21 would allow the state to invest in Bitcoin and other crypto-assets whose market capitalization exceeds USD 500 billion, a threshold that currently only Bitcoin meets. However, so far, the governor has neither signed nor vetoed the bill. According to the state's legislative rules, if Abbott does not act before June 22, the proposal will automatically become law without the need for his signature.

Arizona, which this week reactivated its bill HB 2324 to form a Bitcoin reserve with seized assets, and New Hampshire, which became in May the first jurisdiction in the country to have an active law for a BTC reserve.