New Hampshire Makes History as the First U.S. State to Approve Cryptocurrency for Its Treasury Reserves

The bill allows the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of public funds in digital assets with market capitalizations over $500 billion

New Hampshire has officially become the first U.S. state to approve cryptocurrency for its treasury reserves.

The bill, which was signed by Governor Chris Sununu on Wednesday, will allow the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of public funds in digital assets with market capitalizations over $500 billion, effectively limiting purchases to Bitcoin for the time being.

“New Hampshire is once again first in the Nation,” Governor Ayotte posted on X after signing the bill into law.

This landmark decision could spark a domino effect across the country, with North Carolina already making progress on similar legislation. The North Carolina House passed its own Bitcoin reserve bill with a 71-44 vote this week, which would potentially enable crypto allocations from the state’s substantial $127 billion portfolio.

However, not all states are adopting this approach. Arizona recently saw its Bitcoin reserve bill vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs, who called cryptocurrencies “untested investments” not suitable for the state’s retirement funds.

The bill had narrowly passed the state House in a 31-25 vote before reaching the governor’s desk. Despite this setback, crypto advocates in Arizona are already regrouping for another push, with a companion bill still making its way through the legislative process.

Nevertheless, according to Yahoo Finance, there are now reportedly 16 different states with some form of Bitcoin reserve legislation in the works. Some will fail, but others will succeed, creating a patchwork of crypto-forward states competing for innovation.

Government adoption creates a watershed moment for crypto

State-level Bitcoin legislation marks a critical milestone. After years of viewing digital assets with suspicion, government entities are now not just accepting crypto but actively buying it with public funds. That’s huge.

“The first one’s the hardest, by far,” Dennis Porter, founder of the Satoshi Action Fund, told CoinDesk. “Having a state that’s already gotten it done, it’ll really increase the political momentum.”

What’s clear is that the floodgates are starting to open. While some states are still hesitant, others are racing to be early adopters of what could become standard treasury practice over the next few years.

This isn’t just about Bitcoin’s price, though. It’s about the entire infrastructure that makes crypto usable at scale. Astute traders are already preparing to profit from projects that are constructing the crypto future.

Here are three presale projects that stand to benefit from this shift:

Bitcoin Pepe: Bringing speed and flexibility to Bitcoin

Bitcoin Pepe is solving an ever-present challenge in the Bitcoin ecosystem—transaction speed. As Bitcoin attracts institutional players, its notoriously slow transaction capacity threatens its utility.

Bitcoin Pepe is way more than a meme; it’s a layer 2 solution that transforms Bitcoin from a pure store of value into a high-performance system. Its breakthrough PEP-20 token standard enables thousands of transactions per second while maintaining the security of the main Bitcoin blockchain—essentially giving you Solana’s speed with Bitcoin’s battle-tested security.

The timing looks perfect, as crypto traders will eventually need infrastructure that helps them leverage their holdings for more than storage, and Bitcoin Pepe is paving the way.

At $0.031 in stage 9 of its presale, BPEP represents an opportunity to get in early on infrastructure that enhances Bitcoin’s core functionality. As institutional adoption accelerates, projects that make Bitcoin more usable are a tantalizing prospect.

CartelFi: Unlocking passive income from crypto holdings

CartelFi is addressing the yield question that’s central to any serious strategy. Its innovative platform allows crypto holders to earn substantial passive income from their assets without sacrificing exposure to potential price pumps.

This flips the script on the conventional “buy and hold” strategy. The platform’s specialized liquidity pools transform otherwise static holdings into productive assets, generating ongoing returns, enabling you to earn passive income from your tokens while holding for long-term growth.

One intriguing aspect of CartelFi is its tokenomics model. The system creates natural upward price pressure as user adoption grows by directing up to 100% of platform revenue toward buying and burning CARTFI tokens from circulation.

Currently at $0.045 in stage 13, CARTFI gives early holders access to a project that’s not waiting for specific market conditions to deliver value. Yield generation represents a crucial step in crypto’s evolution—you get ahead of the curve with CARTFI.

PepeX: Democratizing access to crypto innovation

PepeX solves the biggest problem facing new crypto projects—getting discovered. This intelligent platform lets anyone launch a token with a single click, with an AI marketing engine that handles promotion automatically. Great ideas can finally find their audience without insider connections or million-dollar budgets.

PepeX offers some cutting-edge built-in security and transparency, too. By limiting founder allocations to just 5%, the platform prevents insider dumps