Texas bill proposes $10M crypto cap for each city and county

House Bill 815 would amend the Public Funds Investment Act to authorize local cryptocurrency investments. Reynolds, a Democrat representing Missouri City, filed the measure on Nov. 9 ahead of the 90th Legislature’s regular session. The filing record lists him as the author and shows no committee referral. The bill has not become law; its proposed effective date is Sept. 1, 2027, if enacted.

The $10 million limit would apply separately to each municipality and county, not to a shared statewide pool. Participation would be optional: the bill sets no minimum purchase, requires no local government to invest and provides no state funding for acquisitions. Its language names municipalities and counties but does not extend the new authority to school districts or other public bodies. The two-section measure creates no separate local reserve fund and identifies no specific cryptocurrencies for investment.

HB 815 adopts cryptocurrency definitions from Section 403.701 of the Government Code, enacted through Senate Bill 21 in 2025. That law defines Bitcoin as a decentralized cryptocurrency operating on a peer-to-peer network independently of a central authority or bank. Its broader cryptocurrency definition covers virtual currencies secured by cryptography, with transactions recorded on a distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

The state reserve law separately requires an asset to have averaged at least $500 billion in market capitalization over the preceding 24 months to qualify for state purchases. HB 815 uses the definitions but does not refer to that threshold or set a replacement market-cap floor or approved-token list. It also contains no crypto-specific custody or audit provisions corresponding to those in the state reserve framework.

Reynolds introduced HB 4258 in March 2025, proposing up to $250 million in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency investment from the Economic Stabilization Fund, alongside the same $10 million local-government allowance. HB 815 omits the state-fund provision and instead points to definitions in the later reserve law.

Texas has pursued separate arrangements for its own reserve. In November 2025, the state bought $5 million in BlackRock ETF shares as an interim allocation within its $10 million reserve initiative, according to reporting at the time. By May 29, 2026, reports put the reserve’s Bitcoin exposure through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust at approximately $10 million. A state procurement sought a provider to buy, hold, manage and report qualifying assets, with plans to transition from ETF exposure to directly custodied Bitcoin within 60 days of contract execution.