A Texas lawmaker introduced a bill Monday that would authorize every city and county in the state to invest up to $10 million in public funds in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, without specifying how the assets would be held.
Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Democrat from Missouri City, filed House Bill 815 on the first day of prefiling for the 90th Texas Legislature. The bill is captioned “Relating to the authority of a municipality or county to invest money in cryptocurrencies.” Its introduced text, published on the Texas Legislature’s website, is two sections long.
The bill would add Section 2256.0165, titled “Authorized Investments: Cryptocurrency.”, to Chapter 2256 of the Texas Government Code, the Public Funds Investment Act. The new section would provide that “a municipality or county may invest not more than $10 million of its money or money under its control in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.” The authority would take effect Sept. 1, 2027, if the bill becomes law.
The $10 million limit applies to each city or county, rather than to one statewide pool. School districts and other local governments covered by the investment act are not included.
What the bill does and does not say
The bill uses the definitions of “Bitcoin” and “cryptocurrency” in Section 403.701 of the Government Code. Those definitions were added to law last year by Senate Bill 21, which established the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Bitcoin is defined as a decentralized cryptocurrency created by a peer-to-peer network that operates independently of any central authority or bank. Cryptocurrency is defined more broadly as a virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure transactions recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain.
As a result, cities and counties would be able to invest in cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin. The bill also leaves out the reserve law’s requirement that coins purchased for the state fund have an average market capitalization of at least $500 billion over the latest 24-month period, as well as its requirements for cold storage and qualified custodians.
The Public Funds Investment Act already requires local governments to adopt written investment policies prioritizing the safety of principal and liquidity, and to invest with the care a prudent person would exercise in managing their own affairs. Before purchasing cryptocurrency, a city or county would still need to add it to its policy. The bill’s new section does not address custody, digital-asset-specific audits, or how losses would be handled.
A narrower version of last year’s proposal
On March 10, 2025, Reynolds and Rep. Mihaela Plesa introduced a broader proposal, House Bill 4258. It would have allowed the comptroller to invest up to $250 million from the Economic Stabilization Fund, the state’s rainy day fund, in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. It also set the same $10 million limit for cities and counties. The measure was referred to the House Delivery of Government Efficiency Committee on April 1, 2025, but did not become law.
House Bill 815 removes the rainy day fund provision, retaining only the local-government component. The state’s reserve was established separately under Senate Bill 21, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June 2025.
On Nov. 20, 2025, the Texas Comptroller’s office purchased $5 million of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust as a placeholder while it worked toward direct custody, The Texas Tribune reported; the office confirmed the purchase. A subsequent purchase raised the reserve’s IBIT exposure to about $10 million. In May, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock appointed an advisory committee and issued a request for proposals for a custodian, moving toward direct bitcoin holdings.
What comes next
Prefiling for the 90th Texas Legislature began Monday, and the regular session starts Jan. 12, 2027. The bill has been filed but has not been assigned to a committee, a step that typically occurs after lawmakers convene. Even if it passes both chambers and is signed into law, cities and counties could not exercise the new authority before Sept. 1, 2027.
This post, “Texas Rep. Files Bill Letting Cities Invest $10 Million in Bitcoin,” first appeared in Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Micah Zimmerman.
Source: bitcoinmagazine.com. Adapted by NBTC.
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