Texas has taken a concrete step toward holding Bitcoin directly by naming a five-member advisory committee to oversee its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The panel will advise the Comptroller’s office on custody, valuation and management as the state moves from indirect ETF exposure to directly held Bitcoin.
Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock will serve on the advisory committee. The body was created under Senate Bill 21, signed into law on June 22, 2025, which gave the Comptroller authority to administer the reserve and established a framework for state-level Bitcoin holdings. Hancock said lawmakers charged his office with managing the reserve with transparency, security and robust financial controls, and that the new committee brings the relevant expertise to protect taxpayers’ interests.
The five-member panel includes experienced public and private sector figures: Laurie Dotter, chair of the Investment Advisory Board for the Employees’ Retirement System of Texas, who brings more than 35 years in investment oversight and governance; Jamie McAvity, founder and CEO of Cormint Data Systems, which runs a 130-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Fort Stockton; Carla Reyes, a law professor at Southern Methodist University who serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee and has testified to Congress on blockchain policy; and Gary A. Vecchiarelli, CPA, president and CFO of CleanSpark, noted for helping build its Bitcoin trading desk, yield strategies and governance systems.
Simultaneously, the Comptroller’s office issued a request for proposals to select a qualified crypto custodian to provide secure custody, liquidity services and asset management for the reserve. Texas currently holds roughly $10 million of Bitcoin exposure through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). The RFP lays out a plan to transition from that ETF-based exposure to direct Bitcoin holdings within 60 days of signing a custodian contract.
That search places Texas among the most active U.S. states pursuing a formal, state-run Bitcoin reserve. The state’s approach emphasizes direct custody, strict financial controls and a structure that could support additional digital assets over time.
At the federal level, efforts to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve have advanced but remain in development. An executive order signed March 6, 2025 directed the Treasury to create a reserve using Bitcoin already in government custody from criminal and civil forfeitures and barred the Treasury from selling those holdings. Those forfeiture-linked holdings were estimated at 328,372 BTC, making the U.S. government the largest known holder of Bitcoin by that measure.
Officials have reported legal and logistical questions that needed resolution before a federal reserve could be finalized. In January 2026, advisers noted outstanding legal issues; by May 2026 a major legal breakthrough was reported and an announcement was said to be imminent.
Separately on Capitol Hill, Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Nick Begich have supported the American Reserves Modernization Act, a bill that would permit the Treasury to buy up to 200,000 BTC annually for five years and require the government to hold those purchases for at least 20 years. If enacted, the legislation projects the first open-market Treasury Bitcoin purchase in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Texas’s steps—appointing a specialist advisory committee and soliciting custodial proposals—signal a state-led push to convert modest ETF exposure into directly held digital assets while federal plans and potential legislation continue to evolve.
