New Hampshire Rep. Keith Ammon (R) proposed a bill Friday that would enable the state’s Treasury to invest a portion of public funds into digital assets and precious metals. Not only would the move insulate the Granite State from the threat of runaway inflation, but it would also dovetail with some of New Hampshire’s cultural values, Ammon told Decrypt.
“The ethos in New Hampshire is ‘Live Free or Die’—leave me alone, and don’t burden me with too many regulations,” he said. “We’re tied to the U.S. dollar, whether we like it or not, but this would allow us to have the state invest a small portion into this uncorrelated, new asset class.” According to the bill’s text, the state’s treasurer would be able to allocate public funds to precious metals like platinum and gold, as well as “any digital asset with a market capitalization of over $500 billion averaged over the previous calendar year.”
Under those conditions, only Bitcoin would currently be allowed. But the bill includes language stating that the treasurer may engage in “lending or staking” with digital assets, referencing the process through which users of proof-of-stake networks like Ethereum and Sol
Calling for the establishment of a strategic reserve, Ammon’s bill echoes President-elect Donald Trump’s calls on the campaign trail last year. At a Bitcoin confab in Nashville last summer, Trump told attendees to “never sell your Bitcoin,” saying the U.S. would establish a Bitcoin stockpile. As far as putting Bitcoin on New Hampshire’s balance sheet goes, Ammon said he had “a very short conversation” with New Hampshire State Treasurer Monica Mezzapelle about the bill yesterday, and he does not know yet whether she is “keen to the idea” yet.
Since 1920, New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary, letting voters weigh in on party candidates before other states. Ammon told Decrypt that, along those lines, there’s no reason why New Hampshire shouldn’t be the first to create a Bitcoin reserve. “The state that is last to build Bitcoin reserves will lose,” he said. “It’s urgent that states act sooner than later, and that takes some education on the part of state officials.”
