Arizona passes HB2749, establishing a Bitcoin reserve fund and custody of unclaimed digital assets for staking and airdrops. The initiative, led by House Commerce Committee Chairman Jeff Weninger, was signed into law by Governor Katie Hobbs, making Arizona the first state to establish Bitcoin reserve and crypto custody legislation.
Details of HB2749 and the Significance of Its Passage
May 7, 2025, can be considered a landmark date, as we see that Arizona became the first state where a Bitcoin Bill made it all the way through — becoming not just a proposal, but law. At the same time, it establishes a legally defined procedure for identifying and transferring digital assets, protecting property rights, and creating a state-level reserve mechanism not only for Bitcoin but for other crypto as well. In more detail:
- Digital assets are considered unclaimed if their owner does not respond to inquiries for three years.
- Once declared unclaimed, the assets must be transferred to the Department of Revenue in their original digital form.
- Certain state custodians are authorized to use these assets for staking or to receive airdrops.
- All rewards from staking and airdrops are directed to the new Bitcoin and Digital Assets Reserve Fund, managed by the State Treasurer and disbursed only with legislative approval.
Jeff Weninger described this as a strategic step toward building a modern, precise, and competitive infrastructure for handling digital assets in Arizona:
“Digital assets aren’t the future—they’re the present. This law ensures Arizona doesn’t leave value sitting on the table and puts us in a position to lead the country in how we secure, manage, and ultimately benefit from abandoned digital currency.”
He also added:
“It protects property rights, respects ownership, and gives the state tools to account for a new category of value in the economy.”
Conclusion
Whatever volatility Bitcoin may face — which, for some trading strategies, is more of an advantage than a drawback, as you can read more about here — the priorities remain. We continue to see pro-Bitcoin policy, and the U.S. still clearly leads in this space, so this may become a real path forward in the context of a weakening dollar.
