As the U.S. Congress works to regulate crypto, state lawmakers are increasingly forging ahead on bills that embrace crypto, from ones creating bitcoin reserves and, more recently, another to keep unclaimed investments in their native form. 

Last week, the Arizona House Commerce Committee voted unanimously to advance House Bill 2749, which would keep unclaimed crypto in its original form instead of liquidating it into cash, in essence being treated similarly to stocks. 

"It's no surprise that Arizona is a trailblazer in this because Arizona is a state that strongly, strongly believes that freedom is how Americans should get to live their lives and crypto is the ultimate financial freedom tool," said former United States Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., in an interview with The Block. 

Other states are likely to take notice, she added. 

So far, lawmakers in about 20 states have proposed bitcoin reserve-related legislation, bills to allow states to invest in crypto, and now  — ones focus on unclaimed property. 

Currently, exchanges such as Coinbase, which supports the bill, have to send abandoned account funds to states by converting the unclaimed crypto into cash. Under the bill, exchanges could keep unclaimed crypto in its original form, and then, if it goes unclaimed, states can liquidate that crypto into cash. Arizona's revenue department would hold the unclaimed crypto. 

The bill benefits exchanges, but it is also a good policy, said a person focused on policy at Coinbase in an interview. If a customer has unclaimed bitcoin, for example, from three years ago when it was valued closer to $20,000 and goes back to the state to claim it, they could have realized gains since the price of bitcoin has waivered closer to $100,000, she said. 

Coinbase said Arizona is the "trailblazing state" right now but that there is also interest in Utah, Ohio, Alabama and Texas. 

"This is such a digestible policy issue and an easy policy issue for a lot of legislators to understand and to get, especially the ones that are looking to engage more in crypto with something that's not highly contentious," she said. 

States' interest in crypto has ballooned, especially since President Donald Trump took office in January. Trump himself has vowed to make the U.S. the "crypto capital" and has made several moves to show support for the industry, including designating crypto-friendly former regulator Paul Atkins to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one of the key agencies that has had a significant role in trying to rein in the industry. 

Lawmakers at the federal level have been working on bills to regulate crypto as a whole but have not yet been passed into law. 

"We know that crypto has been gaining steam and popularity across the country for some time," Sinema said. "The federal government hasn't caught up until now, but we're glad that they're catching up." 

Sinema, who is also on Coinbase's advisory council, said every state should consider bills to expand crypto's use. 

Republican State Rep. Jeff Weninger, chair of Arizona's House Commerce Committee and sponsor of the bill, said he was shocked when he heard Coinbase say that they and other exchanges had to send crypto in its liquidated form and so reached out to the state's Department of Revenue on the issue.

"That was shocking to me and did not make me happy," Weninger said.

Weninger said he was not surprised to get the unanimous vote on the bill. 

"I think people are starting to get it," Weninger said. "And in this last election … people got a lot more educated on cryptocurrency because it was a big topic in the national scene and in the local scenes. I think people are really starting to wake up to it, especially with the anticipated changes at the federal level."

The bill also includes an amendment allowing the exchanges, on behalf of the state, to use the unclaimed crypto for staking and other emissions that can then be put into a strategic bitcoin and digital assets reserve, Weninger said. This would create new revenue, he added. 

When asked what some pitfalls could be for citizens and the state if the value of the unclaimed crypto decreases, Weninger said the same holds true for other assets such as Apple stock.

"You can say that about any asset," Weninger said. "We think the best thing for the citizen, for the constituent, is to hold it in its native form for them for at least a time period."

Emily Brock, director of the federal liaison center at the Government Finance Officers Association, said states and cities learn by watching each other. Many states and cities convert crypto to the U.S. dollar before depositing, including Colorado, which allows states to pay taxes using crypto, and Utah, which allows its residents to pay state taxes with cryptocurrency. 

"Among states and cities, if something doesn't work then usually adoption is very slow or little," Brock said. "But if it does work, then adoption usually catches like wildfire. So there's always, always things to be learned from each other." 

GFOA, representing public finance officials in the U.S., released an advisory in 2022 recommending that states and local governments abstain from using or investing in crypto for government operations. 

"[The advisory] means, don't hold crypto in your general budget account because, especially if it is to be used in a budget cycle, and if there is a fluctuation in valuation you would either have less or conceptually, you could have more, in which case it's really hard for state and local governments to account for," Brock said. 

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