West Virginia lawmaker introduces bill to allow state crypto investments
The legislation would allow the state‘s treasury to hold digital assets with a market capitalization of more than $750 billion, which applied only to Bitcoin as of January.
West Virginia State Senator Chris Rose has proposed legislation amending the state’s code to allow the treasury to invest up to 10% in precious metals, certain digital assets and stablecoins.
In a bill introduced to the West Virginia legislature on Wednesday, Rose proposed that the state’s Board of Treasury be allowed to invest in precious metals, digital assets with a market capitalization of more than $750 billion from the previous calendar year and stablecoins. The bill, called the Inflation Protection Act, if passed and signed into law, could give the state’s treasury exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), the only cryptocurrency to meet the market cap requirement as of January.
According to the text of the bill, any digital asset acquired by the state’s treasury could be held by a qualified custodian, in an exchange-traded product or through a secure custody solution. Any stablecoins acquired would need to have received regulatory approval from the US government or individual state governments.