North Carolina House of Representatives Wants to Spend $50K to Study Benefits of Holding Bitcoin

The North Carolina House of Representatives has passed a bill that includes provisions to investigate the acquisition and potential benefits of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

House Bill 721, titled “State Precious Metals Depository Study,” aims to examine the potential impact of a state securely holding, insuring, and liquidating virtual currency, with special emphasis on Bitcoin. The legislation received 73 votes in favor, 40 against, while seven participants were absent. It has now been referred to the Senate for further consideration.

• The bill is commissioning a $50,000 study for analyzing the expected benefits of deploying a chunk of the General Fund to digital assets, positioning to hedge against inflation and systemic credit risks.
• It would also research if such a holding by the state would help in slashing overall portfolio volatility and increasing portfolio returns over time.
• Besides exploring the benefits of the asset class, the bill also highlights the necessity of assessing various factors such as costs, benefits, and security measures related to different depository options.
• Examining the feasibility of leveraging a privately managed depository, another state’s depository, or setting up a State-administered depository within North Carolina are some of the other focus areas of the study outlined in the bill.
• With this move, North Carolina’s Department of State Treasurer appears to determine the ideal custodian, guardian, and administrator for crypto assets held by the state.
• The latest development comes more than a month after the North Carolina’s House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of a bill banning the acceptance of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) by government entities.