West Virginia is reviving its Bitcoin reserve proposal, one year after its first attempt failed. This new bill aims to authorize the state to invest in “inflation-hedge” assets, such as gold, silver, and Bitcoin. Will this time be the charm?
West Virginia Revives Its Bitcoin Reserve Bill
On February 14, 2025, West Virginia became the 23rd state to introduce a bill aimed at creating a Bitcoin reserve. Although Bitcoin was not explicitly mentioned in the bill, it was the only asset that met the established criteria.
The bill was introduced by Senator Chris Rose (Republican), a former coal miner who now serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, Industry, and Mining.
It was first reviewed by the Banking and Insurance Committee, then by the Finance Committee. These specialized committees are responsible for reviewing, amending, and approving the bill before it is voted on by the Senate.
The problem is that “Senate Bill 465” (SB 465) died in committee, meaning it was not adopted by the full legislature and remained at the committee presentation stage.
But then, one year later, on January 14, 2026, Senate Bill 143 was also introduced during a regular session. This bill is in fact a reintroduction of Senator Chris Rose’s proposed inflation protection bill.
Upon analysis, the bills prove to be broadly similar, with only a few differences in form, primarily driven by political objectives.
For example, in the 2025 bill, no specific assets were explicitly mentioned; the description was purely technical, neutral, and administrative. The new text directly mentions gold, silver, and Bitcoin, thus signaling a more political orientation.
At the start of the 2026 legislative session, proposals for Bitcoin reserves—which had fallen by the wayside—seem to be resurfacing, as recently illustrated by Florida’s renewed push.
What exactly are we talking about?
Thus, the purpose of this bill is to authorize certain state investments in assets considered to be hedges against inflation: gold, silver, and Bitcoin.
The bill would allow the Board of Treasury Investments to allocate up to 10% of the funds under its supervision.
Thus, the state would be authorized to invest in:
- Stablecoins that have received regulatory approval at the federal or state level;
- precious metals such as silver, gold, or platinum;
- cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization exceeding $750 billion on average over the previous year;
- any other exchange-traded derivative issued by a registered investment company.
It should be noted that the market capitalization threshold rule is a way to limit investment to the “mother of all cryptocurrencies”: BTC.
Furthermore, the 10% cap applies at the time of investment and is not intended to force the asset manager to sell holdings in the event of an increase in the value of the assets.
In fact, the goal is not to let these assets sit idle but to use them to generate income through staking or dividends, for example.
Furthermore, this bill also aims to establish detailed rules regarding the management of cryptocurrencies. Standards related to key management, geographic redundancy, and access control are specified in the text.
If this bill passes the special committee, the State Treasurer is authorized to propose additional internal regulations regarding the implementation of this law, provided that these rules are approved by the legislature.
