Missouri’s $0 to Bitcoin? HB2080 Pushes 5-Year Crypto Reserve Plan Forward

Key Takeaways:

• Missouri’s HB2080 has advanced to the House Commerce Committee, reviving the HB2080 bill of Missouri has been submitted to the House Commerce Committee, restarted the effort to build the state’s Bitcoin reserve fund.
• The bill proposes to establish the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Fund with the 5-year minimum compulsory holding time.
• The bill also empowers the state treasurer to invest, custody and receive Bitcoin, also allows the payment of liability of the state by crypto currency.

Missouri lawmakers are once again moving to formalize Bitcoin at the state treasury level. House Bill 2080 passed the initial hearing and is now moving to committee, consisting of a new initiative to create a state-controlled Bitcoin reserve.

In the 103rd general assembly, Rep. Ben Keathley introduced this (amending Chapter 30) to make crypto part of the state financial game playbook. The biggest one is in the state treasury, a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Fund, the manager of which is the Missouri State Treasurer, whose responsibility is to keep all the coins, and the coins are highly regulated.

It is based on a 2025 concept that has been languishing in committee but the lawmakers are putting the plan before the House Commerce Committee to have more eyeballs on it.

Under HB2080, the state treasurer would be allowed to:

• Accept Bitcoin donations, grants, and bequests from eligible Missouri residents or government entities
• Invest and hold cryptocurrency using state funds
• Store Bitcoin in secure custody for at least five years before any sale, transfer, or conversion

The bill defines “cold storage” as an offline method for securing private keys, isolated from network connections. It also compels the treasurer to establish the best custody practices as well as maintain frequent audits to ensure that no rogue activities take place.

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Bi-annual public report will be done that must detail:

• All the BTC in the fund
• The value of BTC in number of dollars
• Fund growth since the previous report
• All transactions and expenditures
• Security incidents, if any
• Bitcoin eligible for transfer after the five-year lockup

Importantly, any amount of remaining money in the last 2-year budget period will not be refunded back to the shared revenue fund. Profits from investment operation will be retained in reserve fund.

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HB2080 does not stop at custodying reserve fund, the Bill also allows all authorities at Missouri to accept crypto currency if approved by the Department of Revenue for taxes, to pay taxes, fines, fees and other liabilities of the state. Authorities can request payers  to imburse service fees relating to crypto currency trading/transactions.

The treasurer would also have discretion to reject ineligible donors and must block transactions involving foreign entities or individuals engaged in illegal activities. The bill allows contracting with qualified U.S.-based third-party crypto firms to strengthen fund security.

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