Montana House Rejects Bitcoin Reserve Bill

The Montana House of Representatives voted 59-41 against the bill to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) during its second reading.

? MONTANA Update:

Bitcoin Reserve bill HB 429 failed to pass a second reading in the Montana House. It is now effectively dead.

The vote was 41 — 59. It was largely partisan, but many Republicans voted against the bill.

ANALYSIS:

HB 429 failed in the House, largely due to… pic.twitter.com/AJK8sPrf1N

— Bitcoin Laws (@Bitcoin_Laws) February 22, 2025

The initiative was rejected due to concerns over the potential for increased speculation with taxpayer funds by the state’s investment board.

Proponents of the bill pointed to the need to maximize the structure’s income and the excessively high proportion of funds “in the bank.”

The document proposed creating a special income account for investments in precious metals, stablecoins, and digital assets with a market value exceeding $750 billion in the last calendar year. Only digital gold meets this criterion.

Currently, representatives from 24 U.S. states have announced plans to launch an SBR in some form. In 20 of these states, the bills remain on the agenda.

Bitcoin Laws Map Update:

New map filters (again), this time with counters:

— Total Measures
— Total SBRs Introduced
— Lives SBRs

Indicating both the # measures, and also # states (which differs when states have multiple bills). pic.twitter.com/oXRds4NvdG

— Bitcoin Laws (@Bitcoin_Laws) February 21, 2025

Utah has made the most progress. The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee approved the relevant document on February 20. The bill will now be considered in the second and third readings before a final vote in the Senate.

In February, Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter called Utah the leading candidate for launching an SBR.

VanEck estimated that the adoption of such bills would create additional demand for Bitcoin amounting to 242,787 BTC ($23.5 billion). The estimate is conservative, as it does not include potential investments from pension funds.

In January, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the formation of a task force on digital assets, led by Special Advisor on AI and Cryptocurrencies David Sacks.

One of the structure’s tasks is to assess the prospects of implementing an SBR. In a recent interview, the official confirmed that they are “studying” the issue.

The largest publicly traded miner, MARA Holdings, has joined efforts to lobby for the creation of Bitcoin reserves at the federal level and in all 50 states.

In December, VanEck calculated that the launch of an SBR could help the U.S. reduce its national debt by 35% by 2050. They believe that by 2049, digital gold will increase in value to $42.3 million, showing a CAGR of 25%.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor estimated the effect of an SBR for the U.S. at $81 trillion.

According to Sygnum’s calculations, purchasing the first cryptocurrency for a national Bitcoin reserve worth $1 billion would lead to an increase in the asset’s capitalization by $20 billion.

Previously, analyst Thomas Farrer predicted that the price of digital gold would rise by $50,000 per minute once U.S. authorities confirm the creation of an SBR.