American states jockey in BTC reserve race 

ProChain Capital’s David Tawil noted that the strategic bitcoin reserve race “is on and it is real”

article-image

maxlatams/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


It was a few weeks back I wrote about new proposed bills in Texas and Oklahoma focused on crypto investments. They joined plenty of states with similar plans — i.e. Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and others. 

More recently, Caylin Young, a delegate in Maryland’s state legislature, proposed establishing a bitcoin reserve fund. There appears to be a hearing on this slated for March 6.

The bill would allow the state treasurer to invest funds obtained through enforcing certain gambling violations toward the crypto asset, according to a proposal synopsis

In Kentucky, House Bill 376 was introduced to “authorize the State Investment Commission to make investments in certain digital assets and bullion.” 

The bill does not mention BTC specifically. But it does note stablecoins (with appropriate US approval) and digital assets (ex stablecoins) with a market cap exceeding $750 billion over the previous calendar year.

That market cap figure is used in Iowa’s House File 246, too — legislation also introduced last week.

This comes after a proposal in Utah allowing the state to allocate up to 5% of certain public funds to crypto moved on to the state senate. Contrarily, North Dakota’s House rejected a similar plan.  

ProChain Capital’s David Tawil wrote in a Sunday email that the strategic bitcoin reserve race “is on and it is real.”

“The largest investors in the world (municipalities, pension funds and nation-states) are going [to] compete to accumulate bitcoin as a digital gold, to serve as a safe haven reserve asset and, in the case of nations, to combat deflation in their own currencies,” he wrote.

Though specifics around the federal government’s possible BTC-buying plans remain unknown for now, there’ll be plenty to watch at the state-level.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Aave’s revenues have doubled from April lows and are fast approaching all-time highs. With 35% of borrow interest coming from ETH and 55% from stablecoins, Aave is emerging as a powerful proxy as an ETH and stablecoin beta. As looping strategies accelerate growth and Horizon positions the protocol to ride the RWA wave, Aave is shaping up as one of DeFi’s most compelling multi-narrative plays.

article-image

Solana saw $78 million in REV for August

article-image

Lit Protocol’s Vincent is shifting agentic finance from toy demos to production rails

article-image

The new system aims to unify Europe’s fragmented tokenized asset settlement and cut cross-border costs

by Blockworks /
article-image

Tron slashed fees by 60% as Plasma looms, threatening its USDT moat

article-image

The acquisition adds evaluation-based funding to Kraken Pro, giving traders access to capital on performance

by Blockworks /
article-image

The deal merges real-time pricing data with on-chain credit ratings, aiming to boost institutional adoption of decentralized finance

by Blockworks /