Utah’s Bitcoin reserve bill moves forward to second senate reading

Utah’s Bitcoin strategic reserve bill moved to its second and third reading in the Senate. On February 20, it passed through Utah’s Revenue and Taxation Committee in a 4-2-1 vote.

After the second and third reading in the Senate, a final Senate vote will be made. The final step will be Republican Governor Spencer Cox’s signature, which isn’t much of a hurdle at that point.

According to Utah’s Bitcoin reserve bill, a qualifying digital asset must have an average market cap of $500 billion over the past calendar year. At the current point in time, Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that qualifies. Ethereum briefly crossed $500 billion between October and December 2021 but did not stay above it for long. The bill also grants the state treasurer the authority to stake the assets, raising the possibility of including proof-of-stake currencies, such as Ethereum, in the future.

All four senators who voted in favor of HB230 were Republicans, while one Republican and one Democrat voted against it, and one senator was absent. The measure further allows the state treasurer to invest up to 5% in digital assets across five accounts, including the General Fund Budget, Income Tax Fund Budget, and State Disaster Recovery accounts.