Bitcoin faithfuls have heavily criticized Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs after she vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state to hold Bitcoin as part of its official reserves. The criticism has since gone wide, with United States government officials making their input.
The whole issue comes after Hobbs ended the state’s plan to invest in Bitcoin with a veto, as the governor cited concerns over using public funds for untested assets. The decision slammed the brakes on the dreams of Arizona being the first state in the United States to adopt a policy to hold digital assets in its reserves.
“Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1025. The Arizona State Retirement System is one of the strongest in the nation because it makes sound and informed investments,” Hobbs wrote in a statement directed at Warren Petersen, the President of the Arizona Senate.
The bill had previously passed a final vote in the state House after 31 members of the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposing it.
Bitcoin supporters blast Arizona governor’s ignorance
The decision to veto the bill did not go down well with the popular voices in the crypto industry, with most of them having strong words towards Hobbs.
“This will age poorly,” Casa co-founder and cypherpunk Jameson Lopp said in a post on X. Bitcoin entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano also waded into the discussion, highlighting that it is ignorance on any politician’s part to think they can make investment decisions. “If she can’t outperform Bitcoin, she must buy it,” Pompliano added.
Crypto lawyer Andrew Gordon also added to the criticism, noting that the country needs more leaders who support Bitcoin. “We need more elected officials who understand that Bitcoin and crypto are the future,” Gordon said.
The disappointment was also evident in the words of Wendy Roger, who co-sponsored the bill with State Representative Jeff Weninger, noting that politicians don’t understand the dynamic of Bitcoin. “Politicians don’t understand that Bitcoin doesn’t need Arizona. Arizona needs Bitcoin,” she said.
Rogers added that she would refile the bill in her next session, pointing out that the Arizona state retirement fund already holds stocks of Michael Saylor’s Strategy, making it exposed to crypto. “Which is basically a leveraged BTC ETF. Arizona’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill will be back. HODL,” Rogers said.
Strategy experienced a big 32% rise in April, marking its most significant monthly gain since November 2024.
The decision to veto the bill was accepted with mixed reactions from the crypto community, with most people criticizing the actions of Hobbs. Some users feel that she may come to regret her actions in the near future because she just passed up on millions of dollars in profits over time.
Others feel she did it for partisan reasons, citing the crypto exposure as a result of the investments in Strategy. Another user mentioned that her actions may have cost her chances of being re-elected because people are moving towards Bitcoin and other assets, and she is not considering that aspect.
However, BTC skeptic Peter Schiff has sided with Hobbs’ decision, noting that the government should desist from using public funds for speculative assets. “The government should not be making decisions to use public funds to speculate in cryptocurrencies,” Schiff said.
Schiff has been known to be a big advocate of gold, seeing it as a stable and better form of investment than Bitcoin and other digital assets. He had previously been calling out Strategy boss Michael Saylor over his decision to go all in on Bitcoin, predicting it could end badly for the company’s shareholders.
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