In brief
- Arizona has passed HB 2749, allowing unclaimed crypto assets to be held in their native form rather than liquidated.
- The law introduces a three-year dormancy threshold before digital assets must be turned over to the state.
- A reserve fund will capture earnings from unclaimed assets, with distributions subject to legislative approval.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) signed House Bill 2749 into law on Wednesday, introducing provisions to allow the state to retain unclaimed digital assets in their original form.
The bill, led by House Commerce Committee Chairman Jeff Weninger (R-AZ), modernizes Arizona’s unclaimed property laws to account for crypto by identifying, collecting, and safeguarding unclaimed digital assets and allowing the state to maintain its value instead of liquidating it.
Under the new law, digital assets will be presumed abandoned if the rightful owner fails to respond to communications or record any activity on an account over a three-year period, putting it in line with current legislation on other financial products such as stocks. After this, holders must give the digital assets to the Department of Revenue in their native form.
The law also creates a reserve fund where earnings from unclaimed assets, such as staking rewards or airdrops, can be deposited and later allocated through legislative approval.
“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,” said Wenniger in a statement.
This measure is separate from a higher-profile crypto proposal that was recently vetoed. That bill, brought by State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-AZ), sought to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded by seized state assets. Governor Hobbs vetoed it on May 2, citing concerns about volatility and fiduciary risk.
“Arizonans’ retirement funds are not the place for the state to try untested investments like virtual currency,” she said in a letter on her decision.
Rogers has pledged to reintroduce the bill in the next session.
Across the U.S., state-level attempts to legislate crypto reserves and digital asset policy are heating up, though many are stumbling. Florida’s effort to allocate up to 10% of select public funds to Bitcoin collapsed last week when both HB 487 and SB 550 were pulled just before the legislative session ended, having never made it to a floor vote.
Similar bills have also failed in Oklahoma, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. Many of these had previously advanced out of committee, only to falter in later stages.
New Hampshire, however, has had some success in passing crypto legislation.
Governor Kelly Ayotte signed HB 302 into law on Tuesday, authorizing the state treasurer to allocate up to 5% of public funds to either precious metals or digital assets with a minimum average market cap of $500 billion, effectively greenlighting Bitcoin for state investment.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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