Confirming a report from bitcoin political activist Dennis Porter, on Feb. 5, State Sen. Ant Thornton (R-NM, Dist. 19) and a former GOP nominee for lieutenant governor of New Mexico posted “It’s true” that he had indeed proposed NM SB0275, the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act.
Thornton’s proposed bill would allow up to 5% of the state’s public funds to be invested in bitcoin, MSN reported, adding
“The proposed legislation aims to create an alternative treasury for New Mexico, diversifying the state’s investments by including Bitcoin alongside traditional assets like stocks and bonds.”
Sen. Thornton’s website further states
“New Mexico is now one of nineteen states to have introduced Bitcoin legislation as a strategic reserve. The race is on to acquire this digital capital asset prior to nations (including the U.S.) begin to invest.
“Sovereign nations, institutions, and corporations are all starting to put Bitcoin on their balance sheets. The floodgates are opening and I’m trying to front run the market to ensure New Mexico remains a rich state.”
By “a rich state” Thornton may be referencing the fact that New Mexico is the nation’s second-largest oil-producing state — the first being Texas, a state widely known for bitcoin mining and which introduced its own bitcoin reserve bill in December 2024.
Bitcoin News reported yesterday that a bitcoin reserve bill was recently likewise proposed for North Carolina, and that
“This is part of a national trend with over 20 states exploring similar legislation.”
MSN indicated the same as far back as Dec. 6, saying “around 15 US states have introduced Bitcoin-related bills.”
Investing website AInvest detailed that
“This pioneering initiative aims to allocate 5% of public funds into Bitcoin, establishing a contemporary treasury model for the state. …
“By implementing this 5% investment, New Mexico could effectively enhance its portfolio diversification and take advantage of Bitcoin’s potential for long-term capital appreciation.”
As to private key (password, etc.) management of New Mexico’s bitcoin, the source continued
“The bill stipulates that the management of this Bitcoin reserve would fall under the purview of the state investment officer, ensuring stringent compliance with regulations by operating within the established framework of the state investment council.”
To date, over one-third of U.S. states have now formally discussed their own state-level bitcoin reserves, just as the Trump administration’s incoming “crypto czar,” David Sachs, settles in to assess the feasibility of a national bitcoin stockpile.
As also reported by Bitcoin News Wednesday
“Among all the states, Utah’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill is the furthest ahead, as it has passed the House and is waiting for a Senate vote.”
Meanwhile, Thornton’s bitcoin reserve bill was referred to and awaits further consideration by the New Mexico Senate Tax, Business, and Transportation Committee.
World-class cities like Rio de Janeiro and Vancouver have likewise begun looking at establishing their own city-level reserves.
In the U.S., a newspaper columnist in Sen. Thornton’s home state of New Mexico has launched a bitcoin strategic reserve for the city of Roswell, NM, which began permissionlessly by seeking only private donations and corporate sponsorships, not reallocated government funds or citizens’ tax dollars.
This first U.S., and perhaps first-in-world, “city-level bitcoin reserve” has already been established — at least according to a confirmed blockchain transaction gifting $3,000 in bitcoin “to Roswell City,” the donor said, even if not yet “officially established” by local government.
Informal discussions with a few Roswell city councilors are underway to gift the donation to either the city’s stewardship or to local nonprofit management, then continuing to solicit tax-deductible donations in bitcoin and U.S. dollars, converted to bitcoin.
Either way, New Mexico joins the ranks of those becoming poised to thrive in the modern age by proactively attracting the bitcoin industry and bitcoin tourism to its borders, as Vancouver has done, with “over 80” businesses accepting bitcoin.
Bitcoin News, August 2024
