Texas has just become the first U.S. state to officially purchase and hold Bitcoin (BTC-USD), acquiring $5 million worth of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and authorizing another $5 million for direct custody. This decisive action, executed under the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, comes at an unexpected moment: a market downturn marked by ETF outflows and stalled crypto legislation nationwide.
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While more than two dozen states debated similar bills earlier this year, most efforts evaporated as prices fell. Texas, however, accelerated, signaling a long-term strategic play into digital finance at the exact moment competitors hesitated.
Buying The Dip for Decades
Lee Bratcher, President of the Texas Blockchain Council, confirmed the state views Bitcoin as a long-term strategic asset, not a short-term trade. The $5 million investment is small compared to the state’s huge $338 billion budget, but it is a massive symbolic leap into the future. Texas made the purchase at a price around $87,000 per BTC, essentially choosing to buy the dip during the recent market pullback.
Governor Greg Abbott has publicly supported Bitcoin for over a decade, saying the state should lead in blockchain innovation. The purchase proves this vision. It uses Texas’s unique advantages, like its huge energy resources and easy business laws, to get early exposure to Bitcoin as a state asset.
Why BlackRock’s IBIT Was Used First
The purchase was made through BlackRock’s ETF as a “transitional tool,” not a rejection of native Bitcoin. This method allows Texas to incorporate Bitcoin into state reserves using a familiar, regulated framework while the required infrastructure for complex procurement, security, and self-custody for the authorized second $5 million is being finalized.
The legal basis for this is the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, passed in June 2025. The law permits the State Comptroller to increase the Bitcoin holdings, provided the asset maintains an average market capitalization of at least $500 billion for 24 months. Currently, Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that meets this market capitalization criterion.
The decision by Texas to fund its reserve cements its status as a digital-asset outlier and directly pressures other states and the federal government, whose own national reserve plan awaits Congressional action.
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