Legislation Was Introduced In The Texas House Of Representatives Which Would Establish A ‘Bitcoin Reserve’ - Texas’s Initiative, The Second State-Level BTC Reserve Legislation In 2024, Will Likely Boost Confidence In The US Establishing A Federal BTC Reserve. The legislation, introduced by Representative Giovanni Capriglione, aims to establish the ‘Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve’ for the purpose of ‘holding Bitcoin as a financial asset.’ The BTC would be custodied by the state’s comptroller. The legislation outlines BTC being acquired for the fund via tax payments in the asset, the copayment of other fees, and donations, but not outright purchases. According to the bill, BTC offers a 'hedge against inflation and economic volatility.' Texas is the second state this year to introduce legislation related to the establishment of a BTC reserve. In November, the Pennsylvania House introduced a similar bill. The difference being that the Pennsylvania bill called for the state’s treasury to allocate up to 10% of its funds into BTC. Cynthia Lummis’ Bitcoin Act of 2024, which outlines the creation of a BTC reserve, also establishes ways states can custody their tokens within the national system. States opting into this program will have their BTC held in segregated accounts within the federal reserve system. Lummis’ bill envisions the acquisition of BTC through a structured ‘Bitcoin Purchase Program,’ buying up to 200,000 BTC annually over five years, with holdings retained for at least 20 years to strengthen national financial resilience and offset federal debt. Trump’s ‘National Strategic Bitcoin Stockpile’ envisions retaining seized BTC.

- **BlackRock (NYSE: BLK)** suggested a 1-2% BTC allocation in certain investment portfolios. In a recent research report, the asset manager called the allocation a ‘reasonable range’ for exposure to the asset in a traditional 60/40 portfolio. The report also indicated that allocating more to BTC ‘would sharply increase [BTC’s] share of the overall portfolio risk. - [link](https://www.blackrock.com/institutions/en-zz/insights/portfolio-design/sizing-bitcoin-in-portfolios) - @BLK - **Donald Trump** said the US intends to become a top contender in the global crypto space. In an interview at the New York Stock Exchange, Trump reiterated his plans to create a strategic BTC reserve to surpass China and other countries in the crypto arena. - [link](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/12/trump-says-the-us-is-going-to-do-something-great-with-crypto.html) - @CNBC - **Congressman French Hill** was appointed as the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, according to sources cited by Punchbowl News. Serving as the prior chair of the Digital Assets subcommittee, the Arkansas Republican takes over from Patrick McHenry. Hill's legislative activity includes involvement with the crypto-related FIT21 bill. - [link](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/12/12/french-hill-to-lead-powerful-congressional-panel-next-term-report) - @PunchbowlNews - **Activist hedge fund Starboard Value** has taken a stake in BTC miner Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), according to sources cited by the WSJ. The fund is urging Riot to repurpose certain mining sites into data centers for high-performance computing, with the objective of diversifying the miner’s income streams and enriching its operational efficiency. - [link](https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/activist-starboard-value-takes-stake-in-bitcoin-mining-company-riot-82b3796f?mod=hp_lead_pos10) - @WSJ - **Avalanche** has raised USD 250M through a token sale. The funding round was led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly, and ParaFi Capital, and saw participation from over 40 companies, such as SkyBridge and Morgan Creek Digital. The raised capital is earmarked for the 'Avalanche9000' network upgrade, which aims to improve subnets and cross-chain communication capabilities. - [link](https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/12/12/despite-being-flush-avalanche-raises-250-million-from-galaxy-and-others/) - @Forbes - **The Polygon community** is considering a proposal to utilize over USD 1.3B in stablecoin reserves to generate yield. Authored by Allez Labs and DeFi protocols, the plan involves deploying funds from the Polygon PoS Bridge into various ERC-4626 vaults to boost activity, targeting a ~7% yield. - [link](https://www.theblock.co/post/330730/polygon-community-weighs-proposal-to-deploy-over-1-billion-in-stablecoin-on-its-bridge-for-yield-generation) - @TheBlock - **Michael Sonnenshein**, former CEO of Grayscale Investments, has been appointed COO of tokenization platform Securitize. In the new role, Sonnenshein will focus on integrating traditional finance with blockchain tech to advance the tokenization of real-world assets. Securitize has already tokenized assets over USD 1B and collaborates with asset managers including BlackRock, Hamilton Lane, and KKR. - [link](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/michael-sonnenshein-joins-securitize-as-chief-operating-officer-302330093.html) - @Securitize - **Topology**, an early-stage investment venture firm focused on crypto, has secured USD 75M in funding. Led by Casey Caruso, a former partner at Paradigm, Topology was established to invest in groundbreaking startups, with investors such as Paris Hilton and OpenAI founders. - [link](https://cointelegraph.com/news/ex-paradigm-casey-caruso-laucnhes-vc-topology) - @Cointelegraph - **Societe Generale** executed a blockchain-based repurchase agreement with Banque de France, marking a first in the euro-zone. The transaction involved using bonds as collateral on Ethereum's blockchain for central bank digital currency from Banque de France's DL3S blockchain. - [link](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/12/13/societe-generale-conducts-blockchain-based-repo-transaction-with-french-central-bank) - @CoinDesk - **Fantasy V2 was launched**, accompanied by a successful closing of a USD 4.25M seed round led by Dragonfly. The investment aims to improve the decentralized trading card game and its fantasy betting features by enlarging prize pools and adding new influencer categories. - [link](https://www.theblock.co/post/329948/fantasy-v2-dragonfly-manifold-ventures) - @TheBlock

- WSJ: [Crypto Ads Crackle In A Trump-Energized Landscape](https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-ads-crackle-in-a-trump-energized-landscape-603ece68)

- [Should SOL Be Trading At A 70% Discount To ETH?](https://www.coindesk.com/opinion/2024/11/27/should-sol-be-trading-at-a-70-discount-to-eth) Michael Nadeau, November 7, 2024. - Michael Nadeau, the founder of The DeFi Report, discusses SOL and ETH.

- [Jack Mallers On Bitcoin 2025 Expectations And Strike's New Features](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Azta2EDoI), The Investor's Podcast, December 11, 2024. - Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike, discusses the latest BTC-related topics.