Arizona Becomes Second US State To Approve Bitcoin Reserve Law

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed House Bill 2749 into law on Wednesday, introducing provisions to allow the state to establish a digital assets stockpile, making it the second state in the United States to create such a framework.

The move has been widely celebrated within the cryptoverse.  “Second state in two weeks. Not a fickle decision. A law. Bitcoin is entering the mainstream,” Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley observed in a post on the X social media site.

Arizona Approves Unclaimed Crypto Law 

The bill, sponsored by House Commerce Committee Chairman Jeff Weninger, establishes a reserve fund for unclaimed digital assets if the owner fails to respond to communications over a three-year period. Qualified custodians can stake the reserve assets to earn rewards or receive airdrops, which can then be deposited into what Arizona has dubbed a Bitcoin and Digital Asset Reserve Fund.

“This law ensures Arizona doesn’t leave value sitting on the table and puts us in a position to lead the country in how we secure, manage, and ultimately benefit from abandoned digital currency,” Weninger postulated in a May 7 statement.

The signing comes shortly after Hobbs vetoed a separate bill, SB 1025, which would have allowed Arizona’s treasury and retirement systems to invest up to 10% of their assets in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

In her veto message, the governor stressed that “Arizonans’ retirement system is strong because it sticks to proven investment strategies,” and that it’s inappropriate to expose the state’s retirement funds to untested investments like cryptocurrencies.

Multiple states in the US are weighing strategic reserve legislation, though many have stumbled into roadblocks. New Hampshire, however, beat several others to the punch this year after its Governor Kelly Ayotte approved a strategic Bitcoin reserve bill on May 6.

The New Hampshire bill authorizes the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of public funds in a digital asset that has at least $500 billion in market capitalization. Bitcoin is currently the only crypto that meets that threshold.

The state-level efforts to establish Bitcoin reserves come amid a push from President Donald and Republican lawmakers to do the same in the federal government. Trump signed an executive order in March authorizing the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset stockpile.