TexasBitcoin

Reference · The money law

The Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

The nation's first standalone, publicly funded state Bitcoin reserve — what the law built, what the state has actually bought, and where it goes next. Tracked against the primary record.

By TexasBitcoin · Published August 9, 2026 · Updated September 1, 2026

The short answer

The Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is a state-owned Bitcoin fund created by Senate Bill 21, signed June 20, 2025. The Comptroller manages it outside the treasury and may hold only digital assets averaging at least $500 billion in market cap over 24 months — a bar only Bitcoin clears. The Legislature appropriated $10 million, all of it now deployed into a spot Bitcoin ETF as a placeholder — a position begun November 20, 2025 — with a custody contract targeted for late August 2026 to convert it to directly held Bitcoin.

Key facts

  • Senate Bill 21 was signed June 20, 2025 and took effect immediately, creating the first standalone, publicly funded state Bitcoin reserve.[1][3]
  • The reserve may hold only digital assets averaging at least $500 billion in market capitalization over 24 months — a threshold only Bitcoin currently clears.[2]
  • The Legislature appropriated $10 million for the reserve.[7]
  • On November 20, 2025, the reserve made its first purchase — about $5 million in the iShares Bitcoin Trust, held as a placeholder.[4]
  • The ETF position has reached the full $10 million appropriation, per the custody RFP filed in May 2026.[8][9]
  • On May 28, 2026, the Comptroller completed the five-seat advisory committee and opened a custody-and-liquidity RFP; contract execution is targeted for late August 2026.[5][9]
FROM A CLAIM TO THE KEYS · WHERE THE $10 MILLION STANDS, SEPTEMBER 2026NOWA claim on Bitcoin$10M in the iShares TrustBlackRock's custodian holds coinTexas holds ETF sharesTHE CONTRACTThe custody RFP908-26-1778WS · closed Jul 10late-August target passedaward pending · Huffines+60 DAYSThe conversioncustodian retires the ETFcoin bought in Texas's namecold storage, layered controlsTHENThe keys, in publiccoin in the State's own namea public holdings websitereport due Dec 31, 2026YOU ARE HERE · AWARDthe difference between owning a claim on Bitcoin and owning the keys · tracked live on the custody watch
From a claim to the keys. Texas holds its $10 million as ETF shares today; the custody contract converts that into Bitcoin held in the state's own name within 60 days of execution, with a public holdings website behind it. The award is the step the reserve is waiting on.

Reserve status

As of September 1, 2026
Enabling law
Senate Bill 21, 89th Legislature — signed June 20, 2025, effective immediately [1][3]
Manager
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — Don Huffines since August 1, 2026 — holding the fund outside the state treasury [2][10]
Appropriation
$10 million from the Legislature (a $21M Senate rider was trimmed to $10M) [7]
Eligibility floor
Digital assets averaging ≥ $500B market cap over 24 months — only Bitcoin qualifies today [2]
First purchase
~$5 million into the iShares Bitcoin Trust on November 20, 2025 [4]
Current holdings
$10 million in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (a spot BTC ETF) — the full appropriation deployed, held as an explicit placeholder [8][9]
Custody
No custodian named as of September 1, 2026. RFP 908-26-1778WS closed July 10, 2026 (extended from June 15); the late-August execution target passed with no award, so the contract moving the $10M from the ETF proxy to directly held Bitcoin now executes under Comptroller Huffines [8][9][10]
Advisory committee
Complete — the Comptroller chairs by office (Kelly Hancock to July 31, 2026; Don Huffines since August 1), joined May 28, 2026 by Laurie Dotter, Jamie McAvity (Cormint), Carla Reyes (SMU), Gary Vecchiarelli (CleanSpark) [5][10]
Reporting
Comptroller must publish biennial reports on the fund's value and management [2]

From statute to ledger

  1. Done

    SB 21 signed — the reserve is created

    Governor Greg Abbott signs Senate Bill 21, effective immediately, making Texas the first state with a standalone, publicly funded Strategic Bitcoin Reserve held outside the treasury under the Comptroller. [1][3]

  2. Done

    The first purchase

    The Comptroller's office buys roughly $5 million of the iShares Bitcoin Trust at $51.8694 per share, with Bitcoin near $91,300 — an explicit placeholder until a dedicated custodian is contracted. [4]

  3. Done

    Committee complete; custody RFP opens — holdings at $10M

    Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock completes the five-seat advisory committee — Hancock chairing, joined by Laurie Dotter, Jamie McAvity, Carla Reyes, and Gary Vecchiarelli — and the office issues the custody-and-liquidity RFP. The filing confirms the reserve's ETF position has reached the full $10 million appropriation. [5][8][9]

  4. Done

    Custody RFP closes

    Proposals for the custody-and-liquidity mandate come due — the deadline, first set for June 15, was extended to July 10 on the ESBD. The selected firm will securely acquire, hold, and report the state's Bitcoin in the name of the State of Texas, retiring the ETF placeholder for coin the state controls. [8][9]

  5. In progress

    Custody contract execution — the move to the keys

    The RFP targeted contract execution for late August 2026; the window passed with no award as of September 1, and the contract now executes under Comptroller Don Huffines, sworn in August 1. Once the custodian is under contract, the $10 million IBIT placeholder converts to directly held Bitcoin — the moment the reserve stops holding a claim and starts holding the asset. [8][9]

What is the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?

It is a state-owned Bitcoin fund created by Senate Bill 21, authored by Senator Charles Schwertner and signed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025, effective immediately.[1][3] Its defining trait is structural: the reserve sits outside the state treasury, managed by the Texas Comptroller as a dedicated vehicle rather than a line item in an existing fund, and shielded from the routine sweeps that pull idle balances back into general revenue.[2] Texas did not merely permit the state to own Bitcoin — it built a strategic reserve and named it one. The fuller legislative arc, from the 2014 “not money” memo forward, lives on the Texas Bitcoin law timeline.

How much Bitcoin does Texas actually own?

As of its first move, Texas holds Bitcoin exposure, not yet self-custodied coin. On November 20, 2025, the Comptroller's office bought roughly $5 million of the iShares Bitcoin Trust — a spot Bitcoin ETF — at $51.8694 a share, with Bitcoin near $91,300, and described the position as a temporary placeholder.[4] By the time the custody RFP was filed in May 2026, the position had grown to the full $10 million appropriation, all of it in IBIT – a second purchase of about $5 million on December 15, 2025 completed it, and by March 2, 2026 the position was marked at roughly $7.8 million.[8][9][13] The state deliberately started with an ETF to establish a position while it built the plumbing to hold the asset itself. That plumbing is the custody question below — and it is the difference between owning a claim on Bitcoin and owning the keys.

THE POSITION · WHAT TEXAS PAID, AND WHAT IT WAS WORTHBought · Nov 20, 2025~$5.0M · IBIT at $51.87 · Bitcoin near $91,300Bought · Dec 15, 2025~$5.0M · Bitcoin near $87,000Marked · Mar 2, 2026~$7.8M · under water in month four$10M costThe Bond Buyer, Nov 2025; Dallas Morning News, Mar 2, 2026 · bars to scale · a ten-year argument, in month four
The position, to scale. Two purchases of about $5 million each in November and December 2025, and the mark on March 2, 2026, when the $10 million placeholder was worth about $7.8 million. The reserve was written for a ten-year horizon; this is what month four looked like.

How is the reserve funded?

The Legislature appropriated $10 million to seed the reserve. The number is its own small piece of Capitol history: a Senate budget rider had floated $21 million to “kick start” the fund before the final figure settled at $10 million.[7] A donation channel written into the early drafts was removed in conference.[12] Beyond that appropriation, SB 21 lets the reserve grow three more ways — open-market purchases by the state, and any forks or airdrops that land in the state's cryptocurrency addresses.[2] It is a fund designed to accumulate, not just to hold a one-time allocation.

HOW THE RESERVE GROWS · THE SEED, AND THE FOUR DOORS THE STATUTE LEAVES OPENTHE SEED$10 millionappropriated by the 89th Legislature$21 million · the Senate rider,trimmed in conferencefully deployed by May 2026Appropriationsthe Legislature can add in 2027Open-market purchasesthe Comptroller may buy moreForks and airdropsanything that lands in the state's addressesDonationsin SB 778 and the House version; removed in conferenceSB 21 enrolled text; Texas Policy Research on the $10M; Texas Observer on the conference · a fund designed to accumulate
How the reserve grows. A $10 million seed, trimmed from a $21 million Senate rider, and three doors the statute leaves open: further appropriations, open-market purchases by the Comptroller, and any forks or airdrops that land in the state's addresses. The fourth door, private donations, was in the early drafts and removed in conference.

What can the reserve hold?

Only a digital asset averaging at least $500 billion in market capitalization over the most recent 24 months is eligible.[2] The threshold is the policy in miniature: it is high enough that, today, only Bitcoin clears it, so the “reserve” is Bitcoin in all but the statute's careful, asset-neutral wording. The 24-month averaging window is deliberate too — it screens out anything that spikes to a half-trillion for a week, demanding durability, not a moment – ether, at roughly $494 billion in October 2025, has crossed the line only briefly.[11] It is the same hard-money instinct that runs through what Texas law says about Bitcoin.

THE $500 BILLION FLOOR · WHAT THE STATUTE ADMITS, AS OF OCTOBER 10, 2025$500B$1000B$1500B$2000BBitcoin≈ $2.0T · clears it, with roomEther≈ $494B · just under, and not for 24 monthsthe floor: $500B, averaged over 24 monthsEther has held it only briefly – about a monthin 2021, then August–October 2025“A statutory door, not a plan.”Cointelegraph, October 10, 2025 (Schwertner interview); SB 21 § 403 · bars to scale
The $500 billion floor, to scale. Only an asset averaging half a trillion dollars in market capitalization over 24 months is eligible. Bitcoin clears it several times over; ether has crossed it only briefly. The threshold is asset-neutral in wording and Bitcoin-only in effect.

Who runs it, and who is on the advisory committee?

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts manages the reserve, and must publish biennial reports on its value and administration.[2] A five-member advisory committee guides that work, and it is complete: on May 28, 2026, then-Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock — the comptroller sits on the committee by office — named the four outside seats: Laurie Dotter, Cormint CEO Jamie McAvity, SMU law professor Carla Reyes, and CleanSpark CFO Gary Vecchiarelli — a bench that pairs institutional investment experience with people who mine and account for Bitcoin for a living.[5] The same announcement opened the request for proposals for the custody-and-liquidity partner.[5] The office itself changed hands on August 1, 2026, when Don Huffines was sworn in after Hancock's resignation; custody of the reserve, the committee seat, and the pending custody award passed with it.[10]

How does Texas compare to other states?

Texas is not alone in law — Arizona and New Hampshire also enacted cryptocurrency-reserve statutes — but it is first in structure.[4][14][15][14][15] Where others authorized crypto exposure inside existing funds, Texas stood up a standalone, publicly funded reserve held outside the treasury, with its own committee, its own reporting cadence, and its own line in the Comptroller's manual of accounts.[6] The design is the statement: a reserve is something a state builds on purpose and reports on, not a position it happens to carry.

FIRST IN STRUCTURE · THREE STATE RESERVE LAWS, 2025TexasSB 21 · June 20, 2025Standalone fund outside the treasury$10M of taxpayer money appropriatedBought Nov 20, 2025 – first state to buyAdvisory committee; biennial reportCustody in the state's own name (pending)New HampshireHB 302 · May 2025Authority, not a fund: up to 5% of fundsNo appropriation; treasurer's discretionAssets over $500B market cap – BitcoinCustody via multisig, custodian, or ETFFirst to sign; not the first to buyArizonaHB 2749 · May 7, 2025A fund of abandoned digital assetsNo taxpayer money – SB 1025 was vetoedGrows by airdrops and staking rewards10% to the general fund on approvalUnclaimed property, not a reserve buyTexas Legislature Online; The Hill and Bitcoin Magazine on HB 302; Arizona Senate fact sheet on HB 2749 · filled dots: what the law affirmatively does
First in structure. New Hampshire signed first, giving its treasurer authority to allocate up to 5% of certain funds; Arizona built a fund out of abandoned digital assets after its governor vetoed the taxpayer-funded version. Texas appropriated public money into a standalone reserve outside the treasury, with a committee and a reporting duty, and was the first state to actually buy.

What comes next for the reserve?

The near-term story is custody — and it is at the wire. The RFP for a custody-and-liquidity firm closed July 10, 2026 (extended from June 15), with contract execution targeted for late August 2026; the selected partner will retire the $10 million ETF placeholder for Bitcoin held directly in the name of the State of Texas — the move from a claim to the keys.[8][9] That handoff now has its own living record: who holds the Texas Bitcoin reserve tracks the custodian search, the 60-day conversion clock, and the coming public holdings website. After that come the questions both pages keep tracking: what the first biennial report shows, and whether the 90th Legislature, convening January 2027, adds to the fund. None of these are threats to the record above — they are its next entries, and we update against the primary record as they land.

WHAT COMES NEXT · SEPTEMBER 2026 → JANUARY 2027Sep 2026Oct 2026Nov 2026Dec 2026Jan 2027Feb 2027Custody awardoverdue against its late-August target+60 days (floats)ETF placeholder converts to coin, once under contractThe generalHuffines vs. Eckhardt for the Comptroller's full termFirst biennial reportdue under SB 21 § 403.708The 90th convenesdoes $10M stay the seed, or become the size?the conversion date floats with the award · everything else is on the statute or the calendar
What comes next. The custody award is overdue against its own target and starts a 60-day conversion clock whenever it lands; the November 3 general decides who holds the desk for a full term; the first biennial report is due December 31; the 90th Legislature convenes January 12, 2027 with the appropriation question open.

Frequently asked questions

Does Texas own Bitcoin?

Yes, though indirectly so far. The reserve holds $10 million in the iShares Bitcoin Trust — a spot Bitcoin ETF — as an explicit placeholder, a position begun with a ~$5 million purchase on November 20, 2025 and built to the full appropriation by May 2026. A custody contract targeted for late August 2026 will move the state from that ETF proxy into directly held Bitcoin.

How much money is in the Texas Bitcoin Reserve?

The Legislature appropriated $10 million for the reserve (a $21 million Senate rider was trimmed to $10 million), and the full amount is now deployed into a spot Bitcoin ETF, beginning with a roughly $5 million purchase in November 2025. SB 21 also lets the reserve grow through open-market purchases, forks, and airdrops.

Who manages the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts manages the reserve, holding it outside the state treasury. A five-member advisory committee guides administration — the Comptroller chairs it, joined by four outside experts named on May 28, 2026. The Comptroller must publish biennial reports on the fund's value and management.

What can the Texas reserve hold besides Bitcoin?

Only digital assets averaging at least $500 billion in market capitalization over the most recent 24 months. That threshold is a bar only Bitcoin currently clears, so in practice the reserve is Bitcoin-only — though the door is left open if another asset ever qualifies.

Is Texas the only state with a Bitcoin reserve?

No. Arizona and New Hampshire also enacted cryptocurrency-reserve laws. Texas's is distinguished as the first standalone, publicly funded Bitcoin reserve held outside the state treasury in a dedicated vehicle, rather than as a line item inside an existing fund.

Sources

Primary record first: the SB 21 bill history and the Texas Comptroller, then legal analysis and trade press. This is a research and reference article, not financial, investment, or legal advice.

  1. [1]Texas Legislature Online — SB 21 (89R) bill history: signed June 20, 2025, effective immediately
  2. [2]Hunton — Texas Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SB 21): $500B market-cap floor, five-member advisory committee, biennial reporting, held outside the treasury
  3. [3]The Block — Governor Greg Abbott signs strategic Bitcoin reserve bill into law (June 2025)
  4. [4]The Bond Buyer — Texas makes first purchase for state's Bitcoin reserve: ~$5M in the iShares Bitcoin Trust, November 20, 2025, held as a placeholder
  5. [5]Texas Comptroller — Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock Names Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee Members (May 28, 2026)
  6. [6]Texas Comptroller — Manual of Accounts: Strategic Bitcoin Reserve fund (Fund 1018, Fiscal 2026)
  7. [7]Texas Policy Research — Texas House Approves SB 21 (context on the $10M appropriation)
  8. [8]Texas SmartBuy ESBD — RFP 908-26-1778WS: custody and liquidity services for the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
  9. [9]Crypto Briefing — Texas plans to shift $10M Bitcoin holdings from IBIT to direct custody; bids due June 15, 2026, contract execution targeted for late August
  10. [10]Texas Comptroller — Don Huffines Sworn in as Texas Comptroller, Refuses Salary, Calls for Property Tax Relief (August 1, 2026)
  11. [11]Cointelegraph — Texas lawmaker behind state's crypto reserve bill: Ether may be next (October 10, 2025): Bitcoin ≈ $2T, ether ≈ $494B against the $500B floor
  12. [12]Texas Observer — Texas Set to Create State Bitcoin Reserve (May 21, 2025): the donation clause restored by the House, removed in conference
  13. [13]Dallas Morning News — Texas' $10M bitcoin investment slips into the red amid crypto price dive (March 2, 2026): ~$5M on Nov 20, 2025; ~$5M on Dec 15, 2025; valued ~$7.8M
  14. [14]The Hill — New Hampshire becomes first state to adopt strategic crypto reserve: HB 302, up to 5% of certain funds in precious metals and digital assets over $500B (May 2025)
  15. [15]Arizona Senate — HB 2749 fact sheet: the Bitcoin and Digital Assets Reserve Fund of abandoned digital assets, airdrops and staking rewards; signed May 7, 2025 after the veto of SB 1025