Arizona has taken the lead within the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) race after two bills passed the House of Representatives Commerce Committee vote on March 18. The state now has two energetic crypto reserve legislations and a legal tender bill, which have also advanced to the subsequent stage.

House Commerce Committee Passes Bitcoin Reserve Bills

On Tuesday, the Arizona House Commerce Committee met to contemplate three Bitcoin-related legislations, including two strategic reserve bills, which passed the vote to advance to the subsequent legislative stage.

Senate Bill 1025 (SB1025), also referred to as the “Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act,” passed the vote with a 6 – 4 majority. Bitcoin Laws noted that the vote “was along partisan lines: Republicans for; Democrats against.”

SB1025 passes with a 6 - 4 majority. Source: Bitcoin Laws

If passed, the laws, sponsored by Republican Senator Wendy Rogers, would allow public funds in Arizona, reminiscent of the state treasurer or state retirement system, to speculate as much as 10% of their assets under management in cryptocurrencies, specializing in Bitcoin (BTC).

“If america Secretary of the Treasury establishes a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the storage of presidency Bitcoin holdings, a public fund may store the virtual currency holdings of the general public fund in a secure segregated account inside the strategic Bitcoin reserve,” SB1025 reads.

The bill also provides a framework for public funds to diversify their investments and establishes clear guidelines and definitions to administer them.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1373 (SB1373), sponsored by Republican Senator Mark Finchem, passed with a 6 – 4 vote on Tuesday. The laws goals to ascertain a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund within the state, comprised of seized cryptocurrencies and appropriated legislative funds that might be held through secure custody solutions or exchange-traded products (ETPs).

The fund would be managed by the state treasurer, who could invest as much as 10% of its total deposit in any fiscal 12 months and should loan its assets to generate additional returns if it doesn’t increase the state’s financial risks.

“The bill also outlines strict requirements for secure custody solutions, including exclusive key access, encrypted environments, hardware maintenance in multiple secure data centers, multi-party governance, comprehensive logging, regular security audits, and disaster recovery protocols,” Bitcoin Laws explains.

Arizona Takes The SBR Lead

After Utah scrapped its BTC reserve clause, Arizona became the state with probably the most advanced SBR laws. As reported by Bitcoinist, the Utah State Senate exited the SBR race this month after amending the proposed bill allowing the state treasury to speculate in digital assets.

Arizona has advanced two SBR bills. Source: Bitcoin Laws

Following this development, Arizona took the lead with two reserve bills awaiting a final floor vote within the Senate before moving to the House Commerce Committee. Each strategic reserve bills now move to the House Rules Committee, which has a 5 – 3 Republican majority.

In the event that they pass the Rules Committee vote, SB1015 and SB1373 will only require a vote by the total House before heading to the governor’s desk. Similarly, one other BTC-related bill passed the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday with a 6-4 vote and heads to the subsequent stage.

Senate Bill 1062 (SB1062), also sponsored by Senator Mark Finchem, goals to expand the state’s definition of legal tender to incorporate cryptocurrencies, including BTC, alongside traditional currencies.

The laws also updates different sections of Arizona’s tax code to incorporate the brand new legal tender definition and ensure consistency across different statutes, suggesting an effort to acknowledge the industry as a key sector.

BTC trades at $84,289 within the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView

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