New Hampshire moved this week to advance the state’s first effort to establish a $100 million bitcoin bond, which would be managed by a government entity but backed by a private firm, according to those involved in the effort.
The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority approved “$100,000,000 in bonds for a project to acquire and hold digital currency,” according to the description on its agenda. NHBFA does not direct government-backed bonds, but encourages private entities to manage them. If that bond happens, the New Hampshire Executive Council will review the agreement and vote on whether to approve it.
Once approved, the project will go live – the first of its kind in the country.
The NHBFA is a self-funded, state-created organization intended to promote New Hampshire’s economic development. Revenues from its bond projects are returned to the entity to help bolster its operations.
State Rep. Keith Ammon, a longtime proponent of crypto policy in New Hampshire, said this first bitcoin bond effort is meant to be a template for more to come.
“Bitcoin can partially insulate our state’s runaway inflation,” he said in an interview with CoinDesk. “This is like training wheels to get to that point and protect our state’s finances from future devaluation of the dollar.”
He said the two-year bond would be dependent on a rising value for bitcoin.
In the past year, BTC has fallen around 6%, after climbing steadily for several months before its sharp decline began last month.
New Hampshire has been at the forefront of state governments pursuing crypto policies. The state of New England was the first to establish a crypto reserve earlier this year, moving much faster than the federal government, which is still in the planning stages.
