State officials confirmed a $5 million purchase of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust on Nov. 20 as the first deployment under the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve authorized by SB 21. Half of the $10 million allocation remains undeployed and is slated for direct, self‑custodied bitcoin once an RFP selects a custodian and operating procedures are finalized. Lee Bratcher of the Texas Blockchain Council disclosed the transaction and estimated an average entry near $87,000 per bitcoin, which a Comptroller spokesman described as a placeholder allocation. The reserve’s framework limits eligible assets to those with market capitalizations above $500 billion, a threshold Bitcoin meets and that Ethereum could meet if sustained over time, according to prior legislative guidance. Other states are pursuing related efforts—New Hampshire and Arizona have reserve laws and New Hampshire approved a $100 million bitcoin bond—while Michigan and Wisconsin gained ETF exposure through pension funds without building dedicated state reserves.
