Utah legislators could be the first to approve a strategic Bitcoin reserve due to a fast-moving legislative calendar and strong political backing.
According to Dennis Porter, the CEO and founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, there’s a high chance that Utah will be housing the world’s first state-level Bitcoin strategic reserve.
He based his speculation on the fact that Utah has the shortest legislative window in the US, giving lawmakers just 45 days to finalise decisions on government policies.
Porter’s comments came during an interview with Simply Bitcoin and Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis where he stressed that no other state has a faster process or more political momentum to push the bill forward.
Utah State Representative Jordan D. Teuscher introduced House Bill 230, dubbed the “Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments,” on January 21.
Subsequently, on January 28, the Utah House Economic Development Committee approved the bill by an 8-1 vote and advanced it to the full house for consideration.
The bill would allow the state treasurer to allocate up to 5% of certain public funds into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
“It’s either sink or swim in 45 days,” he said while adding that every bill passed by Utah’s digital asset task force, which also played a significant role in the development of the bill in question, has ultimately been signed into law in recent years.
We firmly believe that Utah will be the very first state to introduce this legislation.
More states to join the trend
Currently, only Arizona has reached a similar stage in the legislative process, while Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming have introduced bills to establish a Bitcoin reserve.
Meanwhile, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and South Dakota officials have publicly endorsed the idea but have yet to introduce formal legislation.
Porter also expects more US states to get comfortable with the idea of including Bitcoin in state reserves.
He continued:
We think we’ll get to 15 within 2025 alone; it could be many more than that, and some states will have multiple bills because lawmakers are now competing to be the first one in their own state.
While Porter is bullish about the introduction of a strategic Bitcoin reserve at the federal level, he is confident that states will be the first to implement such reserves, as they have a more immediate need to protect their financial stability.
According to him, states operate with a limited budget sourced from taxes, and hence, they must safeguard their funds against potential currency debasement.
Senator Lummis, who has been pushing for a federal Bitcoin reserve initiative, echoed Porter’s sentiment, stating that “states are the innovators of the country, they’re the incubators of innovation.”
She believes state-level adoption will pave the way for national efforts, adding that she and her team are actively working to build bipartisan support for a federal Bitcoin reserve bill.
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