Source: New Hampshire Congress
Note: On May 6, 2025, U.S. time, New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte signed New Hampshire House Bill 302. This marks New Hampshire becoming the first state in the United States to pass a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" bill.
Full Bill Name: Relative to enabling the state treasury to invest in precious metals and digital assets.
A bill allowing the Treasury to invest in precious metals and digital assets.
Enacted by the Senate and House Standing Court:
1. New Clause, State Treasurer and State Accounts.
Amending RSA Title 6, Section 8-c, inserting the following new clause:
6:8-d Establishing Strategic Reserves.
I. In the new clause:
(a) "Exchange-traded product" or "ETP" means any financial instrument approved by the U.S. SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or State Securities Commissioner, traded on a U.S. regulated exchange, with value derived from a pool of underlying assets such as stocks, bonds, commodities, or indices.
(b) "Precious metals" means any of the following, whether in coins, bars, or other forms:
(1) Silver;
(2) Gold; or
(3) Platinum.
(c) "Qualified custodian" means any federally or state-chartered bank, trust company, special-purpose depository institution, or state-regulated company custodying digital assets for approved exchange-traded products.
(d) "Custody solution" means a technological product or hybrid product and service with all of the following characteristics:
(1) Cryptographic private keys protecting digital assets are known and accessible only by government entities.
(2) Cryptographic private keys protecting digital assets are contained only in an encrypted environment and accessible only through end-to-end encrypted channels.
(3) Cryptographic private keys protecting digital assets are never stored, accessed, or controlled by smartphones.
(4) Any hardware containing cryptographic private keys protecting digital assets is stored in at least 2 geographically dispersed dedicated secure data centers.
(5) The custody solution enforces a multi-party governance structure to authorize transactions, enforce user access controls, and record all user-initiated operations.
(6) The provider of the custody solution has implemented disaster recovery protocols to ensure customer asset access if the provider becomes unavailable.
(7) The custody solution undergoes periodic code audits and penetration testing by audit firms.
II. Notwithstanding RSA 6:8, the State Treasurer may invest a portion of public funds in precious metals and any digital assets with a market value averaging over $50 billion in the previous calendar year (Note: Currently, only BTC has a market value exceeding $50 billion), from the general fund, the Revenue Stabilization Fund established under RSA 9:13-e, and any other funds authorized by the legislature.
III. The State Treasurer shall not invest more than 5% of total public funds in any investment authorized in paragraph II.
IV. Digital assets acquired under paragraph II shall be held:
(a) Directly managed by the State Treasurer using a custody solution;
(b) By a qualified custodian on behalf of the state; or
(c) In the form of exchange-traded products issued by a registered investment company.
V. Any precious metals obtained under this chapter shall be held:
(a) As exchange-traded products;
(b) In physical form by a qualified custodian; or
(c) Directly by the state or jointly with another state, with specific rules to be established by the financial director.
2. Effective Date.
This law shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
