Utah’s New Bitcoin Bill: HB230 Overview

As the Bitcoin (BTC) reserve race continues in the U.S. states, Utah has recently passed a bill known as HB230, titled “Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments,” aimed at integrating Bitcoin into the state’s legal framework.

However, the bill underwent a significant change, with a key provision that would have made Utah the first U.S. state to have its own crypto reserve being removed before final approval.

The bill as it stands now only protects basic cryptocurrency rights for Utah residents, such as the ability to store Bitcoin, mine, run nodes, and participate in staking.

In contrast, under the original reserve clause before the amendment, the Utah Treasury would have been able to invest up to 5% of its funds in digital assets with a market value exceeding $500 billion. While only Bitcoin currently meets this standard, the clause was removed during the final vote and the bill was later passed by the House of Representatives in a 52-19-4 vote.

While the expected positive news for the BTC reserve did not emerge from Utah, two Bitcoin reserve bills in Arizona and a Texas bill appear to be closest to becoming law. As a result, 25 of the 31 Bitcoin reserve state bills introduced remain valid. These include bills from Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma.

This is not investment advice.