- Trending
- Comments
- Latest
New Hampshire, Texas and Wyoming have advanced blockchain legislation and treasury programs in recent months, moving faster than Congress on digital asset policy.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed New Hampshire’s HB 639 this month, granting legal protections for self-custody and digital asset businesses, while Texas builds out its $10 million Bitcoin reserve and Wyoming’s state-issued stable token nears its first year live, even as the Clarity Act remains stalled in the Senate.
According to a Forbes analysis by Sean Stein Smith published on July 17, 2026, the latest developments highlight how states are moving ahead with digital asset adoption even as Congress remains divided over the future of nationwide crypto regulation.
New Hampshire has emerged as one of the most active states advancing state crypto laws after Governor Kelly Ayotte signed HB 639, known as the Blockchain Basic Laws.
The legislation provides legal protections for digital asset users, blockchain developers, miners, validators and businesses. It also safeguards the right to self-custody digital assets while establishing a specialized court docket to handle blockchain-related legal disputes.
The measure builds on legislation passed in 2025 that authorized the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of eligible public funds in precious metals and qualifying digital assets. Under the current market capitalization requirement, Bitcoin remains the only cryptocurrency eligible for investment.
“These measures matter place New Hampshire in a leadership position in terms of pro-innovation and pro-technology policy,” Sean Stein Smith wrote in the Forbes analysis.
The article argues that while strategic Bitcoin reserve proposals often generate headlines, broader state crypto laws such as New Hampshire’s Blockchain Basic Laws could have a more lasting impact by creating legal certainty for entrepreneurs, investors, courts and consumers.
The legislation also recognizes self-custody as a defining feature of digital assets while acknowledging that legal, operational and cybersecurity challenges remain.
“By recognizing the right to hold and use digital assets, New Hampshire is providing certainty without pretending that every risk has disappeared,” Stein Smith wrote.
The new legal framework is also intended to modernize dispute resolution involving smart contracts, decentralized networks, tokenized assets and validator operations, areas that traditional commercial courts may not be equipped to handle effectively.
Texas has taken a different approach to state crypto laws by transforming legislative approval into active government operations.
Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 21 in June 2025, creating the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Lawmakers allocated $10 million for the initiative, with approximately $5 million later invested through a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
Since then, Texas has continued building the administrative framework needed to manage the reserve. In May 2026, the state comptroller appointed a five-member advisory committee and issued a request for proposals seeking custody and liquidity service providers.
The selected provider will be responsible for secure asset management, reporting standards, key management and operational controls.
According to the Forbes analysis, these steps move public-sector cryptocurrency adoption beyond political messaging and toward standardized financial governance.
“Effective public-sector crypto policy requires valuation standards, custody controls, cybersecurity procedures, financial reporting, transparency and accountability,” Stein Smith wrote.
Although the reserve represents only a small fraction of the state’s overall budget, the initiative provides other jurisdictions with a practical model for implementing state crypto laws involving public digital asset holdings.
Wyoming has followed a different path under evolving state crypto laws, demonstrating that blockchain leadership can extend beyond Bitcoin investment proposals.
A 2025 bill that would have allowed up to 3% of selected state funds to be invested in Bitcoin failed to pass. However, the state has continued advancing blockchain policy through specialized banking regulations and the launch of the Frontier Stable Token (FRNT).
The token became publicly available in January 2026 and is described in the Forbes report as the first state-issued stable token in the United States. Its reserves are held in trust by Wyoming and invested in U.S. dollars alongside short-term U.S. Treasury securities.
The report argues that Wyoming’s experience illustrates how state crypto laws can continue evolving even when individual proposals fail.
Rather than relying solely on Bitcoin reserve legislation, Wyoming has continued experimenting with blockchain governance, financial infrastructure and consumer protection measures.
While state crypto laws continue advancing across several jurisdictions, federal lawmakers have yet to finalize nationwide digital asset legislation.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 with bipartisan support in a 294-134 vote. The Senate Banking Committee later approved its version in May 2026 by a 15-9 vote.
However, the legislation has not yet passed the full Senate, where negotiations continue over ethics rules, regulatory authority, decentralized finance protections, consumer safeguards and federal preemption.
The Forbes analysis concludes that although states cannot establish nationwide exchange rules or resolve regulatory divisions between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, they are no longer waiting for federal consensus.
Instead, state crypto laws are steadily expanding blockchain activity through legal protections, Bitcoin reserves, state-backed stablecoins and specialized financial infrastructure, offering practical examples of how digital asset regulation can evolve while Congress continues debating a national framework.
Primary source: Forbes – States Are Building Crypto Infrastructure While Washington Lags Behind by Sean Stein Smith.
Copyright © 2025 - The Bit Gazette.
