Florida’s Bitcoin Dream Sinks — Lawmakers Ditch Reserve Plans After Dramatic Legislative Spectacle 🤔💸

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Florida, basking in its sun and occasional delusions of grandeur, has cast aside dreams of a grand, glittering Strategic Bitcoin Reserve—two bills that would have flung public funds into the digital abyss were tossed aside with all the ceremony of yesterday’s lottery ticket.

Witnesses at the Florida Senate report that House Bill 487 and Senate Bill 550 were both “indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration” on May 3. A translation for the uninitiated: Florida lawmakers collectively shrugged and decided to kick the Bitcoin can down the road, perhaps to be run over by the next passing legislative session.

That session, for those keeping score at home, ended May 2. Not a single dramatic vote. No shouts, no chaos. Just the quiet snuffing out of yet another promise of glory and crypto riches—an ending so anticlimactic even the gators were bored.

HB 487—splendidly titled “Investments of Public Funds in Bitcoin”—made its entrance in February and strutted confidently through its first committee hearing, earning unanimous applause on April 10. The bill’s offer: let the Chief Financial Officer and State Board of Administration toss up to 10% of Florida’s hard-won booty (from funds like General Revenue and Budget Stabilization) into Bitcoin. Because why not spice up management of state wealth with a little Vegas energy?

Provisions abounded. The plan would have allowed not only Bitcoin investments, but also lending BTC and dabbling in exchange-traded crypto products (with “strict custody and compliance requirements”—because nothing says responsible stewardship like sending public money into cyberspace… responsibly).

SB 550, a loyal twin, proposed a matching fate for state funds—two bills holding hands, charging bravely toward the future, only to be yanked off the stage before their second act.

The result? With both bills failing to escape committee limbo, Florida’s shot at joining the fabled club of Bitcoin-backed states has been heroically… postponed. Or, as grandma says, “maybe next year, hon.”

A Florida Man stares longingly at a Bitcoin, perhaps contemplating the meaning of it all

Still, Florida isn’t alone in this parade of hesitation. States from Wyoming to Montana—Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Montana, and Oklahoma—have all marched up to the edge of the Bitcoin pool, toed the water, and decided they’d rather not swim with those particular sharks today.

Take Oklahoma’s HB 1203: it survived a legislative obstacle course only to be tackled at the last minute by a bipartisan defense squad armed with “concerns” (and probably a few confused lawmakers googling “What is Bitcoin?” under the table).

This retreat comes despite fevered whispers about Bitcoin as the great hedge against inflation and state treasuries’ next big thing. Lawmakers, in rare bursts of innovation, tempted their colleagues with dreams of modern finance, less reliant on that old, boring fiat currency. Some greeted this with enthusiasm. Others with nervous laughter (and perhaps some hastily hidden TikTok portfolios).

A cowboy on a horse, riding through a digital desert full of bitcoins

Arizona, not to be outdone, is now carrying the torch—though the flame sputters. The state’s legislature passed SB 1025 and SB 1373, waving the flag for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. And then—Governor Katie Hobbs tossed a bucket of cold, pragmatic water with a veto, calling digital assets “untested investments.” Budget issues? Or just a distaste for wild rides?

Undeterred, Arizona has two more horses in the crypto race: HB 2749 suggests a “budget-neutral” reserve bulging with the spoils of unclaimed property, while SB 1373 would let the state gamble up to 10% of funds in digital assets. Because hope, like Bitcoin, is apparently volatile and irresistible to certain lawmakers.

For now, the Florida Bitcoin Dream joins the pantheon of Tall Tales—the kind told by firelight, or perhaps at the next Miami crypto conference. Stay tuned for the sequel, perhaps to be titled: “Florida Buys Bitcoin in Bulk, Immediately Regrets Everything.”

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2025-05-06 09:38