Florida lawmakers have introduced a series of bills aimed at establishing a state-run strategic cryptocurrency reserve, with a primary focus on Bitcoin. Representative John Snyder sponsored House Bill (HB) 1039, while Senator Joe Gruters proposed two companion bills, SB 1040 and SB 1038. These bills call for the creation of a reserve and a trust fund to hold and manage digital assets on behalf of the state.
A key provision in the proposal sets a high bar for eligibility: a cryptocurrency must have an average market capitalization of at least $500 billion over the most recent 24-month period to be purchased for the reserve. This condition effectively limits the initial holdings to Bitcoin, whose market cap exceeds $1 trillion. Ethereum, with a market cap around $380 billion, currently falls short of this threshold.
This is not Florida's first attempt. Previous bills, HB 487 and SB 550, were withdrawn in May 2025. Representative Webster Barnaby later filed HB 183 in October with revised provisions, which is part of the current legislative package alongside SB 1038. The updated framework narrows the asset scope to highly liquid and regulated instruments, explicitly naming Bitcoin, SEC-registered crypto ETFs, and tokenized securities.
The legislation authorizes the state's Chief Financial Officer and the State Board of Administration to allocate up to 10% of select public funds—including the General Revenue Fund, the Budget Stabilization Fund, and the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund—into eligible digital assets. A major change from earlier drafts is the emphasis on custody, requiring assets to be held directly by the CFO, through a qualified licensed custodian, or via regulated products like ETFs to mitigate security risks.
Proponents, including State CFO Jimmy Patronis, frame the move as a long-term investment strategy to diversify Florida's portfolio, adapt to the digital economy, and provide an inflation hedge, often describing Bitcoin as "digital gold." The reserve would be funded through legal recoveries, revenue, purchases, and rewards from blockchain forks or airdrops. The bill also allows Floridians to pay certain state taxes and fees with digital assets, though such payments would be immediately converted to U.S. dollars to shield state accounts from volatility.
The push aligns with a broader national trend. It follows a March 2025 executive order by President Trump that established a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. States like Texas, New Hampshire, and Arizona have already passed similar legislation, with Texas making a $5 million Bitcoin purchase in December 2025. The Florida bills have a conditional effective date of July 1, 2026, pending approval during the 2026 legislative session.
