Texas is drawing closer to establishing a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve after a senate bill to create one was approved by the lower house.

The state’s House of Representatives voted in favor of Senate Bill 121 which would establish a “Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the purpose of investing in cryptocurrency and the investment authority of the comptroller of public accounts over the reserve and certain other state funds.”

The bill, which passed in a 101-42 vote, now awaits a concurrence vote from the Senate following House amendments before passing to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk for a final sign-off.

Texas would become the second state to establish a strategic reserve for digital assets after New Hampshire.

An equivalent vote in Arizona got all the way to the governor but was vetoed by Katie Hobbs, calling bitcoin an “untested investment.” However she has enacted a similar bill which permits the state to hold abandoned digital assets as unclaimed property.

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