Texas has become the first US state to officially purchase and hold Bitcoin (BTC), acquiring $5 million worth of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and authorizing another $5 million for direct, self-custodied BTC. The move comes at an unexpected moment: a market downturn marked by exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows, institutional caution and stalled legislative efforts across the country.

In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, we explore why Texas stepped in while many others stepped out and what the timing suggests about the state’s long-term view on digital assets.

Earlier this year, more than two dozen US states introduced or debated bills that would allow public treasuries to hold Bitcoin or other digital assets. Yet most of those efforts slowed or evaporated as prices fell and political appetite waned.

Texas, by contrast, accelerated. Its Bitcoin purchase is the first executed under the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, passed in June 2025, signaling a decisive move into digital finance at a moment when competitors hesitated.

Texas isn’t new to Bitcoin

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has publicly supported Bitcoin for more than a decade. In a 2014 campaign video referenced in the podcast episode, Abbott said, “Bitcoin is a new and decentralized digital cryptocurrency. It enables instant financial transactions safely and securely.”

Related: As US Bitcoin Reserve stalls, Chainalysis flags $75B in seizable crypto

That stance continued years later. In a 2022 conversation with the Texas Blockchain Council, Abbott outlined why he believed the state should lead in blockchain innovation, saying, “Texas is getting involved early on in this process because we see the future of what Bitcoin and what blockchain means to the entire world.”

A long-term strategic play, not a short-term bet

For Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, the state’s timing is no accident. Speaking on the podcast, Bratcher noted that Texas is positioning Bitcoin as a multi-decade strategic asset:

“Texas is in this for the long haul … this is not a short-term investment … we’re looking at things in decades rather than years.”

Bratcher added that Texas’s economic landscape, which includes energy resources, a pro-business regulatory environment and rapidly growing urban centers, makes it a uniquely strong candidate for early sovereign-level Bitcoin exposure.

What remains to be seen is whether Texas’s move will reignite state-level interest nationwide or simply cement its status as a digital-asset outlier.

To hear the complete conversation on Byte-Sized Insight, listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!

Magazine: How Neal Stephenson ‘invented’ Bitcoin in the ‘90s: Author interview

Source