A West Virginia lawmaker has introduced legislation that would allow the state treasury to invest a portion of its funds in digital assets and precious metals.
The proposal, introduced by State Senator Chris Rose, seeks to amend state law to permit investments of up to 10% in approved alternative assets.
The bill, titled the Inflation Protection Act, restricts digital asset investments to those with a market capitalisation exceeding $750 billion in the previous calendar year.
Based on current market data, only Bitcoin meets the market capitalisation threshold outlined in the legislation.
The proposal allows digital assets to be held through a qualified custodian, an exchange-traded product, or a secure custody solution.
Any stablecoins acquired under the bill would require prior regulatory approval from either the US federal government or individual state authorities.
Similar proposals have emerged across several US states, though only Texas, Arizona and New Hampshire have enacted laws allowing state-level crypto reserves.
The bill has been referred to West Virginia’s Committee on Banking and Insurance, and its prospects for passage remain uncertain.
The proposal was introduced as US Senate lawmakers delayed progress on the CLARITY Act, a federal bill addressing digital asset market structure.
The CLARITY Act has drawn criticism from industry figures over its approach to decentralised finance, stablecoin incentives and regulatory oversight.
At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $95,417.65.