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Legislation that would allow Utah to invest in Bitcoin has been passed by a state Senate subcommittee and has already made it through the House.
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Utah has passed its Bitcoin reserve bill through the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, putting Bitcoin one step closer to becoming one of the state’s reserve assets.
The HB230 “Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments” bill passed Utah’s revenue and taxation subcommittee in a 4-2-1 vote on Feb. 20 and is now headed to a second and third reading before a final Senate vote is made.
The Bitcoin reserve bill has already passed through the House, so if it clears the Senate, Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox would simply then need to sign the bill into law for Bitcoin (BTC) to become a state reserve asset.
All four senators who voted in favor of the bill were Republicans, while one Republican and one Democrat voted against it. One senator was marked absent.
Source: Bitcoin Laws
In order to become a reserve asset, a digital asset must have averaged a market capitalization of $500 billion or more over the last calendar year. Currently, Bitcoin is the only digital asset that currently meets this requirement.
Ether’s (ETH) market cap briefly surpassed $500 billion in 2021. However, it only held above that mark intermittently between October and December 2021.
The bill also authorizes the state treasurer to engage in crypto staking — a feature that can’t be used with Bitcoin directly — suggesting Ether and other proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies could be included in the future.
The state treasurer may invest up to 5% of digital assets in each of the five state accounts listed, which include the General Fund Budget, Income Tax Fund Budget and State Disaster Recovery accounts.
The funds must be held with a qualified custodian or through an exchange-traded fund.
If passed, the bill would take effect on May 7.
Related: Montana becomes 4th US state to advance Bitcoin reserve bill to House
Utah has made the most regulatory progress of any US state, and Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter recently tipped Utah to be the first US state to adopt a Bitcoin reserve, citing the state’s shorter legislative window calendar and “political momentum.”
Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas are the other US states that have introduced bills for a Bitcoin reserve.
US Senator Cynthia Lummis is still trying to pass a Bitcoin reserve bill at the federal level.
Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025
This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
