Utah Senate Passes Amended Bitcoin Bill, Removing Bitcoin Reserve Clause

On March 7, Utah's Senate passed HB230, the "Blockchain and Digital Innovation Amendments" bill, by a vote of 19-7-3. While the bill now heads to Governor Spencer Cox for signing, it no longer includes the provision for a state Bitcoin reserve. This clause would have allowed Utah's treasurer to invest up to 5% of digital assets meeting specific criteria into state accounts, effectively targeting Bitcoin. Senator Kirk A. Cullimore stated that concerns led to the removal of these provisions. Despite this, the bill still grants Utah citizens basic custody protections and the right to mine Bitcoin, run a node, and participate in staking. The absence of Utah's Bitcoin reserve clause leaves Arizona and Texas as frontrunners with pending Bitcoin reserve bills. Meanwhile, on the same day, March 7, former US President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, seeded with Bitcoin from criminal forfeitures.