Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 21 into law on June 21, 2025, creating the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and making Texas the third U.S. state to do so.
Gov. Abbott received SB 21 on June 1, 2025, and had until June 22, 2025, to sign or veto it. Under the Texas Constitution, a bill left unsigned by that date becomes law automatically. With SB 21 now signed, Texas has now become the third state to approve a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve after Arizona and New Hampshire.
Under SB 21, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts will manage a fund kept outside the state treasury. It will be funded by legislative appropriations, dedicated fees, investment returns, and voluntary cryptocurrency gifts. The law sets rules on how the comptroller can buy, hold, and sell digital assets. Supporters say it will help guard against inflation, boost the state’s financial strength, and keep Texas ahead in digital asset use.
Texas Bitcoin Reserve focuses on stability with market cap threshold
The law only lets the fund invest in cryptocurrencies that have had an average market cap of at least $500 billion in the past 12 months. That rule is meant to keep the fund focused on large, stable coins—currently, that is mainly Bitcoin.
Since its first draft, SB 21 was revised in the House Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency. The most recent version adds clearer guidelines, new risk controls, and limits the comptroller’s power over speculative spending of public money.
Earlier, Texas also approved House Bill 4488. That law prevents any funds set aside for a future Bitcoin reserve from being swept into the general revenue fund. It created the legal basis for holding digital assets under state law.
While HB 4488 protects the reserve funds, SB 21 is the law that actually lets the state create the reserve. It allows the comptroller to use surplus general revenue to buy digital assets with a market value of at least $600 billion, a threshold met only by Bitcoin today.
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