Utah Introduces Bill Allowing State Treasurer To Invest Public Funds in Crypto

Utah is considering a new proposal to allow for the creation of a state crypto strategic reserve using public funds.

Utah State Representative Jordan Teuscher, a Republican, has introduced a bill that would allow the state treasurer to invest public funds in digital assets like Bitcoin ( BTC ) and stablecoins.

Says Teuscher,

“Utah is proud to lead the way in blockchain and digital innovation. This bill reflects our commitment to embracing cutting-edge technology and preparing for the future of finance, while ensuring fiscal sovereignty.”

The Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments bill (H.B. 230) “authorizes the state treasurer to invest certain public funds in qualifying digital assets, establishes requirements for the custody and management of digital assets, creates regulatory requirements for stablecoin investments and authorizes the state treasurer to engage in staking and lending of digital assets under specified conditions.”

The proposed legislation allows for an up to 10% investment in crypto assets from several state budget accounts, including the State Disaster Recovery Restricted Account, the General Fund Budget Reserve Account, the Income Tax Fund Budget Reserve Account and the Medicaid Growth Reduction and Budget Stabilization Account.

The bill also says the state could only invest in stablecoins or digital assets with a market cap of over $500 billion averaged over the previous 12 months.

There are also crypto custody service security measures spelled out in the bill that require “cryptographic private keys exclusively within an encrypted environment accessible only via end-to-end encrypted channels,” which prohibits access by a cellphone, and “hardware containing cryptographic private keys in at least two geographically diversified specially designated secure data centers.”

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