Florida Suspends Consideration of Bitcoin Budget Initiative
Date: 2025-05-07 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: BUSINESS
The state of Florida suspended consideration of two bills — HB 487 and SB 550, which provided for the creation of a reserve fund in bitcoins. According to Bitcoin Laws, both documents were excluded from the agenda and postponed indefinitely. Lawmakers ended the spring session without starting to discuss the proposed initiatives.
The bills were initially filed in February and assumed that Florida state funds, including the General Revenue Fund and the Budget Stabilization Fund, would be able to invest up to 10% of their assets in bitcoin. The documents even passed the first hearing — they were approved by the relevant subcommittee on insurance and banking. However, at the next stage, the bills stalled, and they did not advance further in the legislative process.
Bitcoin Laws analysts explain the failure of the initiative by several reasons. First of all, the attention of legislators was focused on other priority projects. In addition, among Florida politicians, there is still a distrust of cryptocurrencies caused by their high volatility. This, according to experts, also influenced the reluctance to move forward with the bills.
Additional pressure was exerted by a recent precedent in Arizona: the state governor Katie Hobbs recently rejected a similar initiative, publicly expressing doubts about the reliability of bitcoin as an investment instrument. According to her, this form of investment is too risky for public funds.
Thus, despite partial support in the early stages, the initiative to include bitcoin in Florida's investment strategy remained without development. In the foreseeable future, the chances of returning to this issue look small, given the current political situation and the continuing skepticism towards digital assets.
