Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock has appointed the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee, a five-member body created under Senate Bill 21 by the 89th Texas Legislature.
The committee will advise Hancock on administering and managing the reserve, including recommendations on valuing digital assets, risk policies, and custody of virtual currency.
Hancock stated:
“This advisory committee brings together the kind of expertise needed to help the state carry out that direction carefully, responsibly and in the best interest of Texas taxpayers.”
Committee members
The four outside appointees joining Hancock on the committee are:
- Laurie Dotter, who brings 35-plus years of investment and governance experience, including chairing the Investment Advisory Board for the Employees Retirement System of Texas.
- Jamie McAvity, founder and CEO of Cormint Data Systems, a Texas-based bitcoin miner whose 130-megawatt Fort Stockton facility has earned repeated top efficiency rankings.
- Carla Reyes, a law professor at Southern Methodist University and member of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, who has testified before Congress on blockchain policy.
- Gary A. Vecchiarelli, president and CFO of CleanSpark, who built the firm’s institutional-grade digital asset management program including trading desk and governance policies for bitcoin transactions.
Texas seeks a bitcoin custodian
Alongside the committee announcement, the Comptroller’s office issued a Request for Proposals seeking a qualified firm to provide custody and liquidity services for the reserve.
The selected firm will be responsible for securely acquiring, holding, managing, and reporting the state’s bitcoin holdings, while also maintaining institutional-grade key management and operational controls.
The firm will additionally support legislative reporting and build a public-facing website to display reserve holdings and educational materials.
The RFP is available through the Electronic State Business Daily on Texas SmartBuy.
Growing state-level bitcoin adoption
Texas is among a growing number of states moving toward formal bitcoin reserve programs.
According to Bitcoin Laws data, 48 bills related to bitcoin reserves are under consideration across the U.S., with eight states already approving such initiatives.
