Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) Bill SB21 has scaled the legislative hurdle after the state Senate adopted the Conference Committee report. The support was overwhelming, with a majority of 24 – 7 voting to adopt the report. With this move, the bill has finally scaled the legislative process and is heading to the Governor’s desk for evaluation. According to Bitcoin Laws , adopting the Conference Committee report meant that the Senate agreed with all the changes to the bill. The House initially approved the report on May 30, with 110 members for it and only 25 against it. This approval finalizes the long legislative process for SB21, which was further extended due to amendments to the bill. With the House and Senate having different versions, the two chambers formed the Conference Committee to agree on these amendments. Some of the amendments that the Conference Committee kept include the House amendment, which increased the market cap for eligible reserve assets to at least $500 billion market cap for the last 24 months. However, it removed the provision that allows the comptroller to stake reserve assets. If passed, the bill would allow the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the state’s chief financial officer, to create a crypto reserve using part of the state investment funds. It also establishes a five-member advisory committee that will set the investment policies and requires the comptroller to publish financial status reports every two years. Texas to join New Hampshire as states with Bitcoin reserves Many believe Governor Greg Abbot will pass the bill, allowing Texas to join New Hampshire and Arizona as US states with an SBR law. Abbot has shown public support for the bill by sharing an article praising the legislative efforts on X. The bill also benefits Texas by making it the crypto capital of the US. The state is already the biggest for Bitcoin mining in the US, with the state responsible for most of the US Bitcoin mining hash rate. Thus, creating an SBR will only boost its crypto credentials. The state has the second-biggest economy in the US, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.7 trillion, only behind California and ahead of New York. According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis , its economy is growing faster than that of the US. While Texas could become the third state with an SBR law, it is set to be the second state to commit part of its portfolio to invest in crypto assets to hedge against inflation. New Hampshire already has the honor of being the first state to have an SBR law that enables the state treasurer to invest in crypto assets. However, the Arizona SBR law does not allow the investment of state funds into crypto assets. Instead, the enacted crypto reserve bill HB 2749 only permits the creation of a crypto reserve to be funded using unclaimed crypto assets, airdrops, and staking rewards. The Arizona SBR law represents a compromise after the state governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed two other SBR bills requiring the state to invest, noting that the “current volatility in cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars.” 30 State SBR bills currently under consideration in the US Meanwhile, more states still have SBR bills in the works, with the majority in the committee stage showing massive interest in Bitcoin reserves. States such as North Carolina, Alabama, Montana, Georgia, and Iowa have their SBR bills in different stages. However, it is not just SBRs that are gaining interest. Pro-crypto legislative efforts have generally increased, with Michigan recently introducing four new bills related to Bitcoin and other crypto assets. One of the bills could allow investment of some of state retirement funds into cryptocurrencies. There is another bill to ban the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), while proposed legislation seeks to allow Bitcoin mining projects on abandoned oil and gas wells, with tax deductions for the mining programs. The state has a total of seven pro-Bitcoin bills under consideration and recently declared May 13, 2025, as Digital Awareness Day through House Resolution 100. The resolution stated that the designation will encourage activities and programs that enable a better understanding of digital assets and their impacts. Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot
