Utah’s Senate has passed a Bitcoin bill, but it will not include a major provision that would have made the state the first in the US to establish its own Bitcoin reserve.
The bill, HB230 “Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments,” was approved without the crucial clause that would have allowed Utah’s treasurer to create a Bitcoin reserve. Instead, the revised bill focuses on providing Utah residents with fundamental custody protections and granting them the right to mine Bitcoin, run a node, and participate in staking, among other related activities.
On March 7, the bill passed with a 19-7-3 vote and will now move to the desk of Governor Spencer Cox for final approval. The provision that was removed would have enabled Utah to invest up to 5% of digital assets in state accounts, with Bitcoin as the only qualifying asset due to its market cap. This clause had passed the second reading but was eliminated in the third and final reading. Utah’s House of Representatives later concurred with the amendment, voting 52-19-4 in favor.
Senator Kirk A. Cullimore, one of the sponsors of the bill, explained in a floor session that the decision to remove the Bitcoin reserve provision stemmed from concerns about the early adoption of such policies. “All of that has been stripped out of the bill,” he said.
Just days before the March 7 vote, Utah was ready to become the first U.S. state to adopt a Bitcoin reserve, as predicted by Satoshi Action Fund’s CEO Dennis Porter. However, with the provision now absent, other states are catching up. Arizona and Texas have active Bitcoin reserve bills that are close to becoming law, according to Bitcoin Laws data. Both states have seen successful votes in their respective Senate committees and now await final floor votes.
Out of 31 Bitcoin reserve bills introduced across the US, 25 remain active, with states like Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma leading the cause. On the other hand, bills from states such as Pennsylvania, Montana, Kentucky, and North Dakota have failed.
This state-level movement comes just as President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 7 to create a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
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