Montana’s House Business and Labor Committee has passed a bill that could open the door for Bitcoin and other cryptos to become reserve assets after a BTC strategic reserve bill passed the subcommittee level.
House Bill No. 429 was passed by the state’s Business and Labor Committee yesterday in a 12-8 vote, making Montana the fourth US state to advance a Bitcoin reserve bill to the House. All Republicans voted in favor of the new Bitcoin bill, while all Democrats opposed the idea.
Bitcoin is the only crypto that meets the new bill’s requirements
After passing through the subcommittee level, the proposed bill will now head to Montana’s House. The only other states that have advanced a Bitcoin reserve bill to this stage are Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma.
If the new bill is approved, it will allow for the creation of a special revenue account that will invest in precious metals, stablecoins, and cryptocurrencies. However, one requirement for the cryptos that the account can invest in is that the digital asset has an averaged market cap of more than $750 billion over the last calendar year. This means that Bitcoin is the only crypto eligible so far.
Other cryptos could make their way into the fund in coming years, with the pro-crypto Donald Trump administration expected to ignite the next rally in the digital asset market. As things stand, leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH) might be the next digital asset to make its way into Montana’s strategic reserve fund. CoinMarketCap data shows that ETH currently has a market of over $329.52 billion. This means that its capitalization will have to more than double before the altcoin has a chance of inclusion.
Notably, the bill was amended to exclude the requirement that the reserve’s funds must be held by a qualified custodian or through a registered exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Should the new bill receive the greenlight, it would come effective on July 1 this year. Montana’s state treasurer could then transfer up to $50 million to a special account that will be used to acquire the precious metals, cryptos and stablecoins that will be held in the strategic reserve by July 15.
Several other US states file for Bitcoin reserve, Utah leads
Several other US states, including Illinois, Kentucky, Utah, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas are also pushing for a Bitcoin strategic reserve through the introduction of their own bills.
Utah, however, leads the pack and has made the most regulatory progress. Its Bitcoin reserve bill is the only bill of its kind to pass through the House.
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Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/montana-takes-bitcoin-reserve-bill-to-house/