In short
- The Arizona Home handed HB 2324, making a state-run Bitcoin and digital asset reserve funded by seized crypto.
- The invoice establishes guidelines for the seizure, storage, and sale of digital belongings obtained in prison investigations.
- It follows HB 2749, signed in Could, which permits Arizona to carry unclaimed crypto in its native kind and divert staking rewards to a state fund.
Arizona’s revived push to carry Bitcoin into state coffers is one signature away from changing into regulation.
The Arizona Home of Representatives authorised Home Invoice 2324 on Tuesday in a 34-22 vote, reviving a measure that failed its first closing vote in Could.
The laws creates a framework for Arizona to ascertain a “Bitcoin and Digital Property Reserve Fund” that will be managed by the state treasurer and funded completely by digital belongings seized in prison investigations.
HB 2324 would mark Arizona’s second digital asset reserve regulation this yr, joined solely by Home Invoice 2749, which Governor Hobbs signed in Could.
That regulation modified unclaimed property laws to permit crypto to be held in native kind, with staking rewards diverted right into a state crypto fund.
HB 2324 additional amends Arizona’s forfeiture legal guidelines to explicitly cowl digital belongings, together with Bitcoin, stablecoins, and different digital currencies.
It establishes protocols for seizure, storage, and sale, with proceeds divided between regulation enforcement, the state basic fund, and a brand new digital asset reserve.
The primary $300,000 from any forfeited digital asset could be directed to the Lawyer Basic’s workplace, with further proceeds cut up between state coffers and the reserve fund.
Lawmakers revived HB 2324 final month by a collection of procedural motions after it failed a closing Home vote on Could 7.
The Senate handed the amended measure by a slender 16-14 margin final Thursday, clearing the way in which for Tuesday’s Home vote.
Governor Hobbs’ document exhibits assist for stricter oversight, however hesitation towards exposing state funds to crypto markets.
In Could, Hobbs vetoed Senate Invoice 1025, the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, which might have allowed as much as 10% of state treasury and pension funds to be invested in Bitcoin.
She additionally blocked Senate Invoice 1373, a proposal to create a state-managed reserve for digital belongings obtained by seizures or legislative appropriations, citing market instability.
On the similar time, Hobbs has signed payments geared toward regulating the trade, together with Home Invoice 2387, which imposes stricter guidelines on crypto ATMs to fight fraud and cash laundering.
Home Invoice 2324 now places one other main crypto coverage choice within the governor’s palms.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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