Senate creates Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve amid heated floor debate

The Texas Senate on March 6 passed a committee substitute for Senate Bill 21 to create a Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, a special fund under the comptroller authorized to acquire and manage Bitcoin and other large-market-cap cryptocurrencies.

Sponsor Senator Schwartner framed the bill as a diversification and hedge measure to allow Texas to "participate competitively in the evolving digital financial economy." The committee substitute would permit the comptroller to acquire, exchange, manage and retain Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of at least $500 billion, require custodial safeguards, and establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve advisory committee. The reserve is to be managed under the same prudent-investor standard the comptroller already follows and subject to a biennial public report to the legislature and online publication.

The floor debate was extensive and often contentious. Senator Gutierrez argued against the bill, saying it diverts attention from pressing needs across the state—food, health care and housing—and stressing that Bitcoin is volatile, not countercyclical, and widely held by a small share of investors. He called the measure likely to benefit "techno bros" and said he would vote no. Gutierrez and others also raised questions about regulatory oversight, exchange security (citing recent exchange losses), and whether the measure appropriated public funds; the sponsor responded that the bill establishes the reserve but does not appropriate money and that appropriations would follow the regular budgeting process.

Supporters, including Senator Parker in floor remarks, emphasized existing Texas regulatory frameworks for digital assets, referenced prior state action to regulate crypto, and framed the reserve as a forward-looking tool to strengthen Texas’s financial options. Senators pointed to market-cap criteria in the bill (the transcript records the $500 billion threshold for eligible assets) and to existing federal and state activity around digital assets.

The motion to suspend the rules and take up the bill passed on the floor, the committee substitute passed to engrossment (25 ayes, 5 nays), and on final passage the Senate recorded 25 ayes and 5 nays. The transcript lists some speakers and includes extended questions and answers; it does not show any appropriation enacted as part of the bill. The sponsor noted other states are considering similar measures and said he wanted Texas to lead in the digital assets space.

The final vote sends the bill forward in the legislative process; the transcript does not specify an amount to be placed in the reserve or a timetable for purchases.