Indiana lawmakers have handed laws permitting public retirement and financial savings plans to spend money on bitcoin, crypto and crypto-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with Governor Mike Braun anticipated to signal the invoice, HB 1042, into regulation inside the subsequent 10 days.
The transfer positions Indiana amongst a rising variety of states contemplating digital property in public funding portfolios.
Below the brand new regulation, Indiana’s public retirement boards, deferred compensation committees, and annuity financial savings packages are required, by July 1, 2027, to supply self-directed brokerage accounts that embody no less than one cryptocurrency funding possibility.
These accounts will give plan contributors the power to pick out cryptocurrency investments in accordance with the boards’ established funding tips, monitor account valuations, and pay administrative charges related to digital asset holdings.
The laws defines cryptocurrency as a digital foreign money that’s not issued by a government, capabilities as a medium of trade, and depends on encryption know-how to control issuance, confirm transfers, and stop counterfeiting.
Indiana joins different states which have licensed public funds to achieve publicity to digital property.
This development has accelerated following President Donald Trump’s directive to create a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, encouraging states and public entities to think about bitcoin and digital property as a part of their long-term funding methods.
Lawmakers say the brand new regulation will give public workers and retirees extra methods to take a position, together with in cryptocurrencies, whereas retaining management over their selections.
Self-directed accounts let contributors handle crypto alongside shares, bonds, and ETFs, with boards setting limits and tips to cut back danger.
The laws additionally clarifies that retirement boards and deferred compensation committees are chargeable for overseeing crypto choices, setting charges, and guaranteeing account values mirror market costs.
It standardizes crypto choices throughout state pensions, deferred compensation packages, and annuity accounts, giving Indiana contributors constant entry to digital property.
Bitcoin and crypto ATM ban amid fraud considerations
In a separate measure, the Indiana legislature voted to ban the operation of digital foreign money kiosks, generally referred to as bitcoin or crypto ATMs, throughout the state. The ban responds to regulation enforcement studies of rising fraud tied to crypto ATMs.
In Evansville, residents misplaced roughly $400,000 in scams related to those machines in 2025. Violations of the ban would fall below the enforcement authority of the state legal professional normal below misleading shopper gross sales legal guidelines.
The prohibition aligns with broader considerations about crypto ATM fraud nationwide.
The FBI reported practically 11,000 complaints associated to crypto ATM scams in 2024, marking a 99% enhance from the earlier yr, with losses totaling an estimated $240 million within the first half of 2025.