New Hampshire Awaits Bitcoin Bond Buyer to Get First State Effort Rolling

What to know:

• The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority, an organization meant to boost the state's economy, made the first big maneuver to stand up a $100 million bitcoin bond.
• While the bond is initiated by the state entity, it would be backed and managed by a private-sector partner, though the final deal has not yet been announced.

New Hampshire moved this week to foster the state's first issuance of a $100 million bitcoin bond, which would be directed by a state agency but backed by a private-sector firm, according to those involved with the effort.

The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority authorized "$100,000,000 bonds for a project to acquire and hold digital currency," according to the description on its agenda. The NHBFA doesn't direct state-backed bonds, but encourages private-sector entities to administer them. If a deal is struck for this bond, the New Hampshire Executive Council will review the arrangement and vote on whether to give it a final approval.

Once approved, the project will go live — the first of its kind in the nation.

"We’re proud to help develop new tools that allow companies in the digital-asset ecosystem to access capital safely and effectively — while ensuring no taxpayer funds or state guarantees are at risk," said James Key-Wallace, executive director of the agency that approved the issuance of this conduit bond.

The NHBFA is a self-funded, state-created organization meant to foster New Hampshire's economic development. Proceeds from its bond projects return to the entity to help bolster its operations, and Key-Wallace told CoinDesk that the crypto assets returning to the state in fees will be used to create the first-of-its-kind crypto-backed economic development fund.

The investment adviser helping put the deal together is Wave Digital Assets, along with Rosemawr Management, and custody of the collateral is in the hands of BitGo.

State Representative Keith Ammon, a longtime advocate for crypto policy in New Hampshire, said this first bitcoin bond effort is meant to be a template for more to come.

"Bitcoin can partially insulate our state's runaway inflation," he said in an interview with CoinDesk. "This is like training wheels to get to that point, protecting our state's finances from future devaluation of the dollar."

He said the two-year bond would be reliant on a rising value for bitcoin.

In this past year, BTC is down about 6%, after having climbed steadily for months before its sharp decline beginning last month.

New Hampshire has been in the forefront of state governments pursuing crypto policies. The New England state was the first to establish a crypto reserve earlier this year, moving much more quickly than the federal government, which is still in the planning stages.