Minnesota Bitcoin Act (HF 2946)

The introduced text would have cited the act as the “Minnesota Bitcoin Act” and defined “cryptocurrency” by reference to virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure transactions recorded on a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain. The proposal was broader than Bitcoin alone because several operative clauses referred to “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”

HF 2946 would have amended Minnesota’s electronic payments statute to let state agencies accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency for government services transactions. It also would have directed the commissioner of management and budget to contract with one or more entities to process electronic financial transactions, accept cryptocurrency, and exchange cryptocurrency into United States currency when needed.

The payments provisions extended beyond general agency transactions. The bill would have added cryptocurrency to certain property-tax receipt and delinquent-property-tax payment provisions and would have treated cryptocurrency as included within electronic means for tax payments governed by Minnesota tax administration statutes. Agencies accepting cryptocurrency could impose a convenience fee tied to processing costs, while account numbers for cryptocurrency and other electronic transfers would be treated as nonpublic or private data.

The bill would have added Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to the list of “other investments” available to the Minnesota State Board of Investment. It also proposed to add Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency to investment-product options for an individual retirement account plan and to the “other obligations” available to certain expanded-list pension plans.

HF 2946 proposed several tax-related amendments. These included state income-tax subtractions for amounts of federal adjusted gross income received in cryptocurrency, an exclusion for net gains attributable to cryptocurrency in the net investment income tax definition, and adjustments to alternative minimum taxable income rules. These provisions should be read as proposed tax language only, not as current Minnesota tax law.

The House bill was introduced and referred to the House State Government Finance and Policy Committee on April 1, 2025. A coauthor was added on April 24, 2025, and later stricken on February 26, 2026. The Senate companion, SF 2661, was introduced on March 17, 2025, and referred to the Senate State and Local Government Committee, with Sen. Bahr added as an author on March 24, 2025.

As of June 11, 2026, no official enactment record was located for HF 2946. Minnesota legislative guidance states that bills remain technically alive over a biennium until final adjournment in the second year; the 2026 regular session concluded on May 18, 2026. This profile therefore maps the measure to an expired bill status rather than an active committee status.

The bill was state-level legislation for Minnesota and would have operated through amendments to existing Minnesota statutes rather than a standalone digital-asset code. It did not propose a consumer licensing regime for crypto businesses, a market-structure framework, or a mining rule. Its core policy areas were government crypto payments, public-sector investment authority, retirement-plan investment options, and state tax computation. Because the measure was not enacted, the profile should be used as a historical legislative reference and not as a statement of operative Minnesota law.