The Texas Senate, the upper house of the state’s legislature, is on track to hold a public hearing on the implementation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve on Tuesday.
The bill (SB21) was introduced by Senator Charles Schwertner earlier this year.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick designed it as one of the Senate’s top 40 priority bills.
A new version of the bill, which was introduced last week, allows investing in cryptocurrencies that have maintained a market capitalization of at least $500 billion over the span of a year. It also no longer includes the $500 million annual purchasing cap.
The legislative effort aims to enhance the state’s economic resilience by integrating Bitcoin.
Texas is, of course, known as one of the biggest Bitcoin mining hubs in the world, which is why it would make sense for the Lone Star State to become a trailblazer in terms of establishing a state-level reserve with the leading cryptocurrency.
In fact, Texas-based public Bitcoin miners account for 52% of the cryptocurrency’s total hashrate.
Moreover, 12 US states recently reported Microstrategy (MSTR) holdings in the first quarter.
More than 20 states have now joined the race to launch state-level Bitcoin reserves in the US. Last week, West Virginia (WV) became the 23rd state to introduce such a bill.
The odds of a federal Bitcoin reserve being approved this year currently stand at 43%, according to Polymarket data.
Other nation-states could follow America’s suit by buying the leading cryptocurrency.
