Utah Senate Approves Bitcoin Bill Without Investment Clause

Utah lawmakers have passed a Bitcoin bill after amending it to remove a section that would have authorized the state treasurer to invest in Bitcoin.

The bill, known as the HB230 “Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments”, now provides Utah citizens with basic custody protections, the right to mine Bitcoin, run a node, and participate in staking, among other things.

Scrapped Reserve Clause

The original bill included a reserve clause that would have authorized Utah’s treasurer to invest up to 5% of digital assets with a market cap above $500 billion over the last calendar year in five state accounts, with Bitcoin being the only digital asset that currently meets this criterion.

However, this clause was removed during the third and final reading due to concerns about the early adoption of such policies.

Legislative Process and Reactions

The bill passed the Utah Senate with a 19-7-3 vote on March 7 and is now headed to Governor Spencer Cox’s desk to be signed into law. The Utah House concurred with the amendment in a 52-19-4 vote. Senator Kirk A.

Cullimore, one of the bill’s sponsors, confirmed the amendment to scrap the reserve clause, stating, “There was a lot of concern with those provisions and the early adoption of these types of policies. All of that has been stripped out of the bill”.

Future of Bitcoin Reserve Bills

With Utah stepping back, attention now turns to Arizona and Texas, where Bitcoin reserve bills are advancing through legislative hurdles. Both states’ bills have successfully passed Senate committee votes and are awaiting a final floor vote.

The race to establish a Bitcoin reserve at the US state level continues, with 25 out of 31 Bitcoin reserve state bills still live, including those from Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahom.

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