Arizona is one step closer to creating the first-ever state Bitcoin reserve, but it will only be completed if Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) gives final approval.
The Republican-led state House and Senate passed a pair of bills, Senate Bill 1025 and Senate Bill 1373, which would create a Bitcoin reserve, similar to President Donald Trump‘s initiative at the federal level. The legislation would allow the state to invest up to 10% of its public funds in “virtual currency holdings” such as Bitcoin.
The legislation advanced through final passage on Monday, with the bills being approved largely on partisan lines in the state legislature. Democrats have expressed concerns about the volatility of cryptocurrencies and granting public funds to be invested in such endeavors.
Hobbs, a Democrat, will have final say on the bills, which did not pass with veto-proof majorities. The Washington Examiner reached out to Hobbs’s office for comment on how she planned to act on the bills but did not receive a response.
On the federal level, Trump signed an executive order last month establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile” through the U.S. Treasury Department, as he has been a champion of the cryptocurrency industry throughout his second term in the White House.
“Last year, I promised to make America the Bitcoin superpower of the world and crypto capital of the planet, and [I’m] taking historic action to deliver on that promise,” Trump said at a White House crypto summit.
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Other states have explored adding Bitcoin reserves to their investments as cryptocurrencies spread in popularity and usage.
In North Carolina, lawmakers are expected to sign a bill that would allow the state treasury department to invest up to 5% of public funds into digital currencies. In Ohio, officials are less convinced about investing public funds into digital currencies, citing the newness of the assets.