Arizona House panel advances three bills on Bitcoin investment and crypto payments

Arizona lawmakers are considering SB1649, a bill that would create a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund composed of digital assets held by, confiscated by, or surrendered to the state. The measure, which cleared the House Rules Committee 8-0 on March 30 and is headed to a full House vote, would allow the state treasurer to manage those assets through secure custody or an approved exchange-traded product. The bill defines eligible digital assets broadly and explicitly names Bitcoin, XRP, stablecoins, nonfungible tokens, Dash, Internet Computer, Ravencoin, Chia, eCash, and Monero, while applying a fair-value screen based on adoption, transaction activity, transaction value, and development activity. It also allows digital assets reported as abandoned property to be delivered in native form to the state or its custodian, with unclaimed staking rewards and airdrops potentially transferred into the reserve fund. The broader Arizona legislative package also includes SB1042 on limited state crypto investment and earlier reporting has indicated SB1043 would permit state agencies to accept crypto payments.