Texas Bill Would Allow Up To $10M In Local Crypto Investment
Texas House Bill 815, filed on 9th November, would give each municipality or county the option to invest up to $10 million in cryptocurrency.
A Texas bill filed on 9th November 2026 would let a municipality or county invest up to $10 million of its own money or funds it controls in Bitcoin (BTC) or another cryptocurrency. The Texas Legislature’s history listed filing as its latest action as of 12th November. The introduced text gives 1st September 2027 as the effective date if the proposal becomes law.
The $10 million figure is a ceiling on the authority that would be granted to each municipality or county. The bill says they may invest and specifies that purchases would come from money they own or control. The proposed authority sits in the Public Funds Investment Act, alongside provisions that already authorise investments such as US government obligations and qualifying certificates of deposit.
The existing chapter requires covered entities to adopt a written investment policy listing the types of investments they authorise. It directs them to emphasise preservation of principal and liquidity, or the ability to access cash. It also calls for an investment strategy for each fund or group of funds and an annual review of those policies and strategies.
Investment officers submit written reports to the governing body at least quarterly for funds covered by the chapter. At each reporting period’s close, the report must give book and market values for accounts or funds invested separately from a pooled fund group.
The local proposal borrows the definitions of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency from the 2025 law creating the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. That law places the state reserve’s eligibility rule in a separate section. For the state reserve to purchase a cryptocurrency, its market capitalisation must average $500 billion or more across the latest 24 months. The local bill contains the $10 million ceiling and cross-references the definitions. That cross-reference covers definitions, while the purchase threshold appears elsewhere in the state reserve law.
The state reserve has its own administration under the comptroller. In May, the comptroller’s office announced appointments to its advisory committee whose remit includes policies on risk, asset management and custody. The state law allows the comptroller to hire a qualified custodian. The local bill names Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency without spelling out local custody arrangements. Custody determines who can authorise transactions, a separate question from whether a government has authority to invest.
