Michigan Bitcoin Reserve Bill Gains Momentum After Months-Long Pause: Will The Great Lakes State Be The Next To Adopt BTC?

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Michigan has gotten one step closer to adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

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House Bill 4087 finally made progress last week after stalling for seven months. Lawmakers moved the bill to a second reading and referred it to the Government Operations committee.

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The bill, introduced by Republican state Reps. Bryan Posthumus and Ron Robinson in February, would permit the state treasurer to allocate up to 10% of the state’s general fund and countercyclical budget and economic stabilization fund in Bitcoin and possibly other cryptocurrencies.

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According to the bill, the state treasurer may also lend these assets to increase yield, provided doing so does not increase financial risk to the state.

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After last week's progress, the bill has completed 25% of the roadmap to becoming law, according to open access legislative database LegiScan. Bitcoin Laws, a platform tracking Bitcoin-related legislation across the U.S., estimates that the bill still has five hurdles to cross before becoming law, including two committee readings and votes in the state House and Senate.

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If lawmakers pass the bill, it will go to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has yet to express an opinion on the bill.

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So far, Arizona, New Hampshire and Texas are the only U.S. states that have enacted Bitcoin reserve laws. Texas said in June that it had allocated $10 million to fund its reserve.

Beyond Michigan, Massachusetts and Ohio continue to consider strategic Bitcoin reserve bills, though neither has advanced since early this year. Similar legislation has failed to pass in 35 other states, according to Bitcoin Laws.

While Michigan state lawmakers are still considering HB 4087, the state's pension fund, The Michigan Office of Retirement Services,  is expanding its exposure to Bitcoin. The fund reported a $10 million position in Ark Invest‘s ARK 21Shares Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (CBOE: ARKB) in Q2. The filing showed the organization grew its share holdings in the ETF by 200% within the quarter.

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The statewide push to adopt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies aligns with President Donald Trump‘s cryptocurrency agenda. Trump in March issued an executive order establishing a Bitcoin strategic reserve from seized assets following through on a promise made on the campaign trail. The order also directed the secretaries of Commerce and the Treasury to pursue "budget-neutral" strategies to add to the reserve.

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There have been no significant updates regarding the reserve since. But a bill has recently been introduced in the House, which would require the Treasury Department to evaluate the feasibility of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and detail how it would be managed.

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Meanwhile, it remains unclear how much Bitcoin the federal government owns. Previous estimates had suggested the government owned about 200,000 BTC worth more than $22 billion. But the figure has been placed in doubt by a July report by finance-focused news outlet The Rage suggesting that the Marshals Service only held about 29,000 BTC worth just over $3 billion.

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This article Michigan Bitcoin Reserve Bill Gains Momentum After Months-Long Pause: Will The Great Lakes State Be The Next To Adopt BTC? originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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