MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A trio of bills related to regulating cryptocurrency and blockchain technology will likely be dropping this week, according to Alabama House Rep. Mike Shaw, R-Hoover.
“I’m dropping three on Tuesday, I was trying to get some cosponsors together, and I didn’t want to drop them right before the break,” Shaw told Alabama Daily News last week during state lawmakers’ second break from the 2025 legislative session. Lawmakers return to Montgomery on Tuesday.
Blockchain technology is a type of digital database that can act as a secure public ledger that records and verifies transactions, and is the foundation of which cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are built upon. While digital public ledgers have existed since the early 1980s, more advanced and decentralized forms have only emerged within the past decade or so.
The first of the three bills, Shaw told ADN, would authorize the state treasurer to invest a portion of state funds into cryptocurrencies, similar to President Donald Trump’s recent establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. It’s from these asset holdings that in theory, the state could generate new revenue through a cryptocurrency’s increase in value over time.
The second bill would define cryptocurrency as property, as well as make it exempt from state property tax.
“It just codifies the way the IRS and everybody already sees crypto from a property and tax perspective, very simple, straightforward law,” Shaw said.
Shaw’s last bill would pertain entirely to blockchain technology, he said, and stood alone when compared to what other states have proposed regarding blockchain technology.
“The third one is more of a Blockchain bill, and I have not seen any other state do something like this, but it comes from what’s going on with the federal government right now with the increased effort for transparency and having the public be able to see what the government is spending money on,” he said.
“What it does is within five years, it requires the state to publish all transactions over $1,000 to a public Blockchain. That would be out there forever on the Blockchain to be analyzed and be fully transparent.”
Shaw said that the bill was similar to what has been proposed by Tesla founder Elon Musk, who, in his capacity as head of Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, endorsed the idea of putting the U.S. Treasury’s spending on a blockchain to enhance transparency.
“I know Musk is a polarizing figure, but this is very similar to something he proposed for the federal government,” Shaw said. “One of the reasons I’m doing this is to highlight that Blockchain is more than just cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin, it’s a technology that can be used for a lot of good things.”
Alabama lawmakers have studied the uses for the emerging blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies in recent months, with a task force being established last year to study the technology’s uses in state government, as well as how lawmakers should approach regulating it.
Earlier this year, the task force endorsed the idea of making Alabama among the most cryptocurrency and blockchain-friendly states in the nation.
Other states have already made use of the technology, including California, which last year digitized its 42 million car titles using blockchain technology, with other states exploring other uses.