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Texas Makes History: $10M Bitcoin Reserve Kicks Off With ETF Purchase
Key Takeaways
- Texas invested $5 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) as a temporary way to gain Bitcoin exposure with public funds;
- Once a Bitcoin custodian is selected, the state plans to move $5 million from IBIT into directly held Bitcoin wallets;
- The decision follows Texas’ new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve law, which allocates $10 million to crypto investments under state oversight.
Texas has invested public funds in Bitcoin
Lee Bratcher, head of the Texas Blockchain Council, explained in a post on X that since the government's system for holding Bitcoin directly is not yet complete, funds have been placed in IBIT as a temporary solution.
Once a proper custodian has been selected through a public process, Texas intends to transfer at least $5 million from IBIT shares to actual Bitcoin, held in wallets controlled by the state government.
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The ETF holding is only part of the plan. The other part of the funds set by the new law, also $5 million, remains for direct Bitcoin storage.
Eric Balachinas, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst, stated in a post on X that Texas has joined "Harvard and Abu Dhabi" in purchasing IBIT.
He added, "Pretty sure that’s the only ETF to ever be owned by all three. More wild stuff for a not-yet-even-two-years-old fund".
This investment aligns with a framework established in June, when Governor Gregg Abbot authorized the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The law set aside $10 million for cryptocurrency investments and outlined steps to build state-level crypto reserves under clear rules.
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