Arizona Leads Bitcoin Reserve Race As Two Bills Pass House Commerce Committee Vote

Arizona has taken the lead in the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) race after two bills passed the House of Representatives Commerce Committee vote on March 18. The state now has two active crypto reserve legislations and a legal tender bill, which have also advanced to the next stage.

House Commerce Committee Passes Bitcoin Reserve Bills

On Tuesday, the Arizona House Commerce Committee met to consider three Bitcoin-related legislations, including two strategic reserve bills, which passed the vote to advance to the next legislative stage.

Senate Bill 1025 (SB1025), also known as the “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act,” passed the vote with a 6 – 4 majority. Bitcoin Laws noted that the vote “was along partisan lines: Republicans for; Democrats against.”

If passed, the legislation, sponsored by Republican Senator Wendy Rogers, would allow public funds in Arizona, such as the state treasurer or state retirement system, to invest up to 10% of their assets under management in cryptocurrencies, focusing on Bitcoin (BTC).

“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,” SB1025 reads.

The bill also provides a framework for public funds to diversify their investments and establishes clear guidelines and definitions to manage them.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1373 (SB1373), sponsored by Republican Senator Mark Finchem, passed with a 6 – 4 vote on Tuesday. The legislation aims to establish a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund in the state, comprised of seized cryptocurrencies and appropriated legislative funds that can be held through secure custody solutions or exchange-traded products (ETPs).

The fund would be managed by the state treasurer, who could invest up to 10% of its total deposit in any fiscal year and may loan its assets to generate additional returns if it doesn’t increase the state’s financial risks.

“The bill also outlines strict requirements for secure custody solutions, including exclusive key access, encrypted environments, hardware maintenance in multiple secure data centers, multi-party governance, comprehensive logging, regular security audits, and disaster recovery protocols,” Bitcoin Laws explains.

Arizona Takes The SBR Lead

After Utah scrapped its BTC reserve clause, Arizona became the state with the most advanced SBR legislation. As reported by Bitcoinist, the Utah State Senate exited the SBR race this month after amending the proposed bill allowing the state treasury to invest in digital assets.

Following this development, Arizona took the lead with two reserve bills awaiting a final floor vote in the Senate before moving to the House Commerce Committee. Both strategic reserve bills now move to the House Rules Committee, which has a 5 – 3 Republican majority.

If they pass the Rules Committee vote, SB1015 and SB1373 will only require a vote by the full House before heading to the governor’s desk. Similarly, another BTC-related bill passed the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday with a 6-4 vote and heads to the next stage.

Senate Bill 1062 (SB1062), also sponsored by Senator Mark Finchem, aims to expand the state’s definition of legal tender to include cryptocurrencies, including BTC, alongside traditional currencies.

The legislation also updates different sections of Arizona’s tax code to include the new legal tender definition and ensure consistency across different statutes, suggesting an effort to recognize the industry as a key sector.