Key takeaways
- Ohio’s Strategic Crypto Reserves bill allows for up to 10% investment of public funds in digital assets.
- Only Bitcoin meets the bill’s market capitalization threshold, ensuring limited initial investment options.
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Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy praised Ohio’s new Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserves bill, calling it powerful and thoughtful.
Introduced by state Rep. Steve Demetriou and supported by six co-sponsors, the bill, known as House Bill No. 18, would allow the state treasurer to invest up to 10 percent of the State General Fund, Fiscal Stabilization Fund, and Price Trust Fund. in a pool of digital assets, including Bitcoin.
Demetriou said the move was necessary to protect state funds from the eroding effects of inflation. Investing in digital assets like Bitcoin would allow Ohio to diversify its holdings and protect against economic uncertainty.
“By allowing the ability to invest in a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, we can protect against inflation and keep Ohio at the forefront of monetary and technological innovation,” Demetriou wrote on X.
Instead of explicitly mentioning “Bitcoin,” Ohio’s new bill adopts the term “digital asset.” According to Dennis Porter, CEO and co-founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, this approach allows Ohio to maintain technological neutrality and avoid potential political friction.
The legislation sets strict criteria for crypto investments, requiring them to be exchange-traded products with an average market capitalization of at least $750 billion over the previous 12 months.
With a current market capitalization of around $2 trillion, only Bitcoin meets this requirement. However, the bill’s language allows other digital assets to be eligible if they reach this market capitalization threshold in the future.
“The average market capitalization of digital assets over the preceding twelve months is at least seven hundred and fifty billion dollars, as determined by the State Treasurer using a commercially reasonable method,” the bill text reads .
The bill also sets strict requirements for secure custody solutions if the state chooses to directly hold digital assets. The state may also use qualified depositories, such as banks or trust companies, or invest through regulated investment companies.
If passed, this bill would represent a major step for Ohio in adopting digital assets as a potential investment vehicle for public funds and retirement systems.
This is Ohio’s second attempt at creating a Bitcoin reserve bill, following House Bill 703 introduced last month by House Republican Leader Derek Merrin with the aim of establish an “Ohio Bitcoin Reserve.” According to Porter, eleven states had joined the race for Bitcoin reserves as of January 23.
The latest state-level initiative came after President Donald Trump signed a crypto-focused executive order, which requires the creation of a task force to develop a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, including including stablecoins, and to evaluate the creation of a national digital asset. reserve.
Ramaswamy, who recently resigned as co-head of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), is expected to announce his candidacy for governor of Ohio next week, a source familiar with the matter told Politico.
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