The governor of Arizona is under fire after blocking a bill that would have allowed bitcoin to be included in the state’s reserves.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ recent decision to veto a bill that would have enabled the state to hold bitcoin as part of its official reserves has sparked a wave of criticism from the Bitcoin community and several U.S. political representatives.
“This [decision] will age poorly,” commented Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Casa, in a May 3 post on X. Entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano added:
“Imagine the ignorance of a politician who believes they can make better investment decisions than the market.”
Attorney and digital asset specialist Andrew Gordon highlighted the importance of having “more elected officials who understand that Bitcoin and crypto represent the future.” Pompliano also remarked that “if [Hobbs] can’t outperform Bitcoin, she must buy it.”
State Senator Wendy Rogers, co-sponsor of the bill alongside Representative Jeff Weninger, publicly voiced her disappointment, stating:
“Politicians don’t realize that Bitcoin doesn’t need Arizona. It’s Arizona that needs Bitcoin.”
On May 2, Hobbs vetoed the Arizona’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, a law that would have allowed Arizona to invest confiscated funds in bitcoin and create a reserve managed by state officials. In a letter addressed to Senate President Warren Petersen, Hobbs justified her decision by emphasizing that the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) must continue to prioritize stable, well-vetted investments. She described digital assets as “untested” and unsuitable for the retirement savings of Arizona residents.
“The Arizona State Retirement System is one of the strongest in the country because it makes sound and informed investments. Arizonans’ retirement funds are not the place to experiment with untested investments like virtual currencies,” the governor stated.
Rogers has already announced her intention to reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session. The senator also pointed out an apparent contradiction: Arizona’s pension system already holds shares in Strategy (MSTR), Michael Saylor’s company, which Rogers described as “basically a leveraged Bitcoin ETF. Arizona’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill will be back. HODL.”
Had the law passed, Arizona would have become the first U.S. state to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve. The state now joins others — including Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming — where similar initiatives have either stalled or been withdrawn.
