Bitcoin may be the first cryptocurrency ever created, but it shouldn’t be the only one lifted by legislative initiatives across the U.S., according to Indiana State Rep. Kyle Pierce.
The Republican, who introduced legislation earlier this month, told Decrypt that his bill centered on Indiana’s treatment of cryptocurrency was written in a way that was intentionally broad. He described that as a matter of principle, as well as optics.
“I didn’t want to get in this situation where someone can say, ‘Oh, you’re choosing winners and losers’” he said, “My goal is to promote the cryptocurrency market, not Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, or whatever it may be.”
Pierce’s bill, in its initial form, calls on the state to allow public services to invest in exchange-traded funds offering cryptocurrency exposure through retirement and savings programs. It also calls on Indiana to establish protections for crypto users and firms.
The bill is distinct from legislation in states like New Hampshire, which enable governments to invest in digital assets themselves, with the caveat that allocations are limited to those with a market capitalization of over $500 billion—a milestone that Bitcoin has only reached.
Among industry groups that Pierce used as “sounding boards,” he recalled the Satoshi Action Fund, an organization that collects donations in Bitcoin but not other digital assets. On its website, Satoshi Action says, “Our policy has been passed into law in eight states.”
Pierce said “there were some discussions” of a market-cap threshold in crafting his bill, but he didn’t view it as a valid starting point. However, when it comes to investment opportunities for public servants, he acknowledged that not all cryptocurrencies are suitable.
“The cryptocurrency that was started last Tuesday—maybe we shouldn’t [enable] retirement investments,” he said. “We might get there with the bill.”
Still, Pierce’s legislation includes protections for cryptocurrency miners, which consume lots of energy in keeping networks like Bitcoin secure. Other blockchains, such as Ethereum, use 99.9% less energy as a result of the network’s proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
“They will not get special treatment, but we’re also making sure you won’t be able to pinpoint them and try to focus negative government actions against them,” he said of miners.
As far as conversations about crypto with constituents go, Pierce said that he’s engaged with a miner that’s a 10-minute drive from his district’s borders, as well as several individuals.
Pierce said that it was difficult to get hearings for crypto-focused legislation before, including a bill that he had previously proposed with protections for miners. But that shifted with the passage of stablecoin legislation at the federal level earlier this year, he said, with President Trump signing the GENIUS Act into law in July.
“I think that there’s a lot more trust,” he said. “I don’t want to assume that it’s going to pass. You never want to do that. But there’s not been this major opposition yet.”