New Hampshire has become the latest state to advance a crypto reserve bill to the House for a full floor vote.
According to Bitcoin Laws, House Bill 302 (HB302) passed the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee with strong support in a 16-1 vote.
With the committee made up of 11 Republicans and 7 Democrats, the outcome indicates bipartisan backing for the proposal.
New Hampshire has become the seventh state to have pushed its bill to the House. The bill was introduced by Republican Representative Keith Ammon on Jan. 7, with support from eight Republican co-sponsors.
The bill will now head to the full House for a vote. If it passes, it will move to another committee review before being sent to the Senate for final approval.
What is HB302?
Once signed into law, HB302 will allow New Hampshire’s state treasury to invest up to 5% of the general fund, revenue stabilisation fund, and any other legislatively authorised funds into eligible digital assets.
To qualify, a cryptocurrency must have maintained a market capitalization of at least $500 billion over the past year, meaning Bitcoin is the only eligible digital asset at this time.
Any acquired digital assets must be securely held through either a qualified custodian (such as a regulated bank or trust company), a state-managed secure custody solution with strict cryptographic safeguards, or an exchange-traded product (ETP) regulated by U.S. financial authorities.
Besides cryptocurrencies, the treasury would also include precious metals like gold, silver and platinum.
The first iteration of the bill also included provisions for stablecoins and staking, but these were later removed during amendments. The total allocation was also reduced from 10% to 5% as a part of the amendments.
If passed, the bill will take effect 60 days after its enactment.
Crypto reserve bills making significant progress
As of March 6, other states that have moved their crypto reserve bills to the House level include North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Arizona. Meanwhile, 19 other states have introduced similar proposals, with their bills still pending review.
Utah is currently in the most advanced stage of legislation. On February 20, Utah’s Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee gave the green light to the Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments bill (HB230) with a 4-2-1 vote.
Likewise, on January 27, the Arizona Senate Finance Committee approved the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (SB1025) in a 5-2 vote.
However, the idea of a crypto reserve has failed to generate traction across five states, namely Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wyoming, where proposals have been rejected.
At a federal level, President Donald Trump has announced plans to establish a national crypto reserve comprising Bitcoin along with select altcoins.
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