Texas becomes the first state in the U.S. to allocate funds for the purchase of Bitcoin reserves and allows the seizure of encryption assets related to crimes.

According to Deep Tide TechFlow news, on June 24, as reported by CoinDesk, Texas became the first state to establish a public Bitcoin reserve and allocate $10 million for purchasing coins. This reserve will be managed independently from the state treasury, distinguishing it from Arizona and New Hampshire, which have only authorized unallocated practices. The accompanying bill HB4488 stipulates that this reserve shall not be included in general revenue.

In addition, the Texas Senate Bill SB1498 automatically took effect on June 20 and will be implemented starting September 1. The bill authorizes the state government to seize digital assets related to specific criminal offenses, including digital currencies, NFTs, and stablecoins, and includes them in the scope of civil asset forfeiture. The bill also extends the definition of "proceeds" to include the appreciation of assets from acquisition to forfeiture, and requires that seized assets be transferred to offline secure wallets managed by law enforcement agencies or the state prosecutor.