Oklahoma Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (HB 1203)

HB 1203 would have permitted, but not required, the Oklahoma State Treasurer to invest specified public funds in bitcoin, digital assets with a market capitalization above $500 billion averaged over the previous calendar year, and stablecoins. The covered public funds were the State General Fund, the Revenue Stabilization Fund, and the Constitutional Reserve Fund.

The bill included an allocation limit. At the time an investment was made, the amount invested in eligible bitcoin, qualifying large-cap digital assets, and stablecoins could not exceed 5% of the total amount of public funds in the relevant account. That cap was framed as an investment ceiling rather than a mandate to purchase digital assets.

The engrossed bill would have required digital assets acquired by the covered funds to be held on behalf of the state by a qualified custodian or through an exchange-traded product issued by a registered investment company. It defined a qualified custodian to include certain federally or state-chartered banks, trust companies, special purpose depository institutions, or regulated companies that custody digital assets for an approved exchange-traded product.

Stablecoins were treated separately. The State Treasurer could only hold stablecoins that had received appropriate regulatory approval from the United States or a U.S. state. The bill also would have allowed staking through a third-party solution where the Office of the State Treasurer retained legal ownership of the digital asset.

HB 1203 also addressed Oklahoma state retirement funds. Under the engrossed text, a state retirement fund could invest in digital assets through exchange-traded products that had been duly registered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The same 5% account-level limit would have applied at the time of investment.

The retirement-fund language is narrower than the State Treasurer authority because it focuses on exchange-traded products rather than direct custody of bitcoin or other digital assets. For editorial classification, this places the bill primarily under government crypto holdings, custody, stablecoins, and staking rather than a general private-market licensing framework.

HB 1203 received its first House reading on Feb. 3, 2025, and was referred to House committees on Feb. 4. The House Government Oversight Committee later reported a do-pass recommendation. On Mar. 24, 2025, the House passed the measure on third reading by a vote of 77 to 15 and referred it for engrossment. The bill was engrossed, signed, and transmitted to the Senate on Mar. 25.

In the Senate, HB 1203 was referred to the Revenue and Taxation Committee and then to the Appropriations Committee. Oklahoma’s bill history records “Failed in Committee – Revenue and Taxation” on Apr. 14, 2025. The following day, the history lists Sen. David Bullard as a coauthor, but that later coauthor entry did not change the failed committee status.

Because HB 1203 did not become law, it does not currently create Oklahoma state investment authority, obligations, or compliance requirements for public entities, custodians, retirement systems, or market participants. The profile should be treated as a legislative-reference entry for a failed Oklahoma bill, not as an operative state digital-asset reserve statute.