Bitcoin: Arizona To Become First US State To Vote On Strategic Reserve Bill

Arizona has advanced Senate Bill 1025 — also known as the “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) Act” — out of committee, positioning it to become the first US state to vote on legislation that would authorize investing state funds in Bitcoin.

Dennis Porter, CEO and founder of the advocacy group Satoshi Act Fund, broke the news via X. In his words: “BIG BREAKING: I can confirm that Arizona has become the 1st state in the nation to pass out of committee a bill to create a ‘Strategic Bitcoin Reserve’. The bill will soon move to a floor vote in the Senate. Congrats to co-sponsors Wendy Rogers and Jeff Weninger for their leadership.”

Arizona Leads The Bitcoin Revolution

The proposed act allows a “public fund” (meaning either the State Treasurer or a state retirement system) to invest not more than 10% of its assets under management into virtual currencies such as BTC. Specifically, the text says:

“A public fund may invest not more than ten percent of the public monies under its control in virtual currency holdings … If the United States Secretary of the Treasury establishes a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the storage of government Bitcoin holdings, a public fund may store the virtual currency holdings of the public fund in a secure segregated account within the strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

The legislation defines “virtual currency” as a “digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value other than a representation of the United States dollar or a foreign currency,” and further stipulates that if federal authorities create a SBR, the state may opt to store its Bitcoin in that facility.

The Arizona general fund reportedly manages $28 billion, while the state retirement system holds $50 billion. Under the proposed legislation, each fund could allocate up to 10% of its assets into BTC, indicating a potential multi-billion dollar influx into digital assets. While the bill does not mandate that 10% of state funds must be allocated, it allows up to that threshold for Bitcoin-related investment decisions.

According to Porter, eleven US states have already introduced their respective Bitcoin reserve bills, and that at least 15 states, potentially 16, are on track to pursue similar legislation.

Satoshi Action Fund, which has been closely involved in driving these efforts, stated via X: “We are thrilled with the significant progress made over the past three months in introducing key legislation, marking an important milestone in our mission. However, the introduction of bills is just the beginning of the journey. To truly make an impact, we must focus on advancing and enacting SBR legislation into law, turning these proposals into actionable policies that will shape a stronger, more resilient financial future for ALL Americans.”

Having passed out of committee, SB 1025 will next move to the Senate floor for a full vote. If approved, the bill will proceed to the House of Representatives. Notably, no timeline has been released regarding the exact date of the Senate vote.

At press time, BTC traded at $102,970.