SB 21 — Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act
Texas has put a bitcoin reserve into law. SB 21, the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act, establishes a state reserve administered by the Texas Comptroller — the official who manages the state's money — and authorizes it to invest in cryptocurrency that meets the act's criteria.
The key criterion is size: an asset must clear a $500 billion market-capitalization threshold to qualify. In practice, only one asset in the world clears that bar — Bitcoin. The act never has to name it for the effect to be a bitcoin reserve.
That design matters. Rather than appropriating money for a named coin, Texas wrote a rule and let the market decide what fits it. It is the same broad approach New Hampshire took weeks earlier with HB 302, but at Texas scale: Texas is the largest state in the nation to put a bitcoin reserve into law.
For miners, the signal is straightforward. A state that holds bitcoin on its own balance sheet has a standing reason to keep its mining industry healthy — and Texas already hosts a large share of American mining. Reserve policy and mining policy now pull in the same direction in the state where both matter most.
Why it matters: SB 21 is the template other statehouses are now copying — a comptroller-run reserve, a market-cap test instead of a coin name, and the biggest state economy in the reserve movement.
Source: Texas Legislature Online — official bill history for SB 21, 89th Legislature
Keep Reading
HB 302 — The First State Reserve Law
New Hampshire authorized its treasurer to invest up to 5% of public funds in digital assets over the same $500 billion line — the proof of concept Texas followed.
S.954 — The Federal BITCOIN Act
Sen. Lummis's bill would direct the U.S. Treasury to purchase 1 million bitcoin over five years. Every state debate is happening in this bill's shadow.