Key Highlights:

• Arizona’s Governor Katie Hobbs has rejected a proposed bill that would permit the state to invest in bitcoin by using seized assets.
• If enacted, the bill could have positioned Arizona as the first U.S. state to integrate bitcoin into its fiscal reserve system.

Arizona will not be engaging in bitcoin investments in the near future. On Friday, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed legislation that would have allowed the state to incorporate the digital currency into its official reserves.

The legislation, identified as Senate Bill 1025, sought to utilize confiscated funds for bitcoin investments and establish a state-managed digital assets reserve. Following a narrow approval in the state House, where the bill passed with a 31–25 vote, it was quickly dismissed on Hobbs’ desk.

Governor Hobbs stated, “The Arizona State Retirement System is one of the strongest in the nation because it makes sound and informed investments. The retirement funds of Arizonans should not be a testing ground for unproven investments like virtual currency.”
(Translation: “El sistema de jubilación del estado de Arizona es uno de los más fuertes de la nación porque realiza inversiones informadas y fundadas. Los fondos de jubilación de los arizonenses no deberían ser un campo de pruebas para inversiones no probadas como la moneda virtual.”)

This veto has beendet a move that could have made Arizona the pioneer state in establishing a cryptocurrency reserve, potentially outpacing even the U.S. Treasury Department in such an endeavor.