“If bitcoin is going to the moon, as we say, it's going to the moon, I want America to be the nation that leads the way. And that's what's going to happen.”
—Donald J. Trump
“You may not be interested in Bitcoin, but Bitcoin is interested in you.”
—Michael Saylor
At risk of stating the obvious, Alabama’s slow and steady approach to governance has its downsides, particularly when it comes to quickly adopting and adapting to novel technologies like Bitcoin. Yet, Alabama remains unchanged, slow and steady all the same.
Indeed, if the swift overhaul of the Alabama Board of Veterans Affairs this past legislative session is any evidence, it seems the fastest way to get something done in this state is to piss off the governor. Sadly, opportunities to truly make the governor as mad as a hornet are rare and few, so most issues usually take years to get off the ground. Alabama’s government may be many things, but fleet-footed it ain’t.
That’s not to say there is no wisdom in Alabama’s plodding approach to governance – i.e., don’t tear down an old fence unless one understands why it was put up in the first place à la Chesterton – but there is still risk in this risk-averse approach.
Namely, being too late. And there’s nothing worse than being too late.
Is Alabama now too late to the Bitcoin space?
Maybe, maybe not. It’s probably still early, though much later than I would personally prefer, but the fact is Alabama certainly won’t be first in the Bitcoin gold rush.
President Trump signed an executive order in March to establish a federal Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and other states are following suit and taking an early lead.
New Hampshire was the first state to pass a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve into law.
“New Hampshire is once again First in the Nation!” Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte posted on X in early May. “Just signed a new law allowing our state to invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals.”
Texas appears to be following suit with the passage of its own Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, which now only awaits Republican Gov. Rick Abbott’s expected signature. Arizona dipped its toe into holding digital assets as well (though Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have freed up public funds to be allocated to a Bitcoin reserve, citing volatility).
Given Alabama’s lawmakers told Bitcoin “maybe next year, we’re still studying up” in the 2025 legislative session – after passing a joint resolution in the 2024 session to stand up the Alabama Blockchain Study Commission – I suspect it would be wise for many of our state lawmakers to also engage in some self-study and direct their interest to Bitcoin’s institutional and political adoption in the second half of 2025.
They can start by watching Vice President JD Vance’s upcoming keynote speech at the Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference this week (along with many other speakers, including White House AI/Crypto Czar David Sacks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Michael Saylor).
That said, some Alabama lawmakers are already leading on this issue — particularly State Rep. Mike Shaw (R-Hoover), who got the ball rolling by sponsoring a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve bill (HB482) this session. State Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) sponsored an identical companion bill in the Alabama Senate (SB283).
Their legislation would have allowed the state treasurer to invest up to 10% of certain state funds into highly capitalized digital assets like Bitcoin (as of this writing Bitcoin’s market cap is $2.1 trillion.)
Unfortunately, their bills stalled this year, but maybe they were always intended to be a conversation starter for next year. Sometimes a legislative idea must go almost nowhere in Alabama before it ever gets anywhere. Slow-and-steady approach, indeed.
That said, thank you to Shaw and Barfoot for leading the way on this issue this year (as well as anyone else pushing Bitcoin adoption statewide). Because of their early efforts — and the forthcoming work product of the Alabama Blockchain Study Commission due at the beginning of next year’s session — maybe the 2026 regular legislative session will be the year Alabama gets truly interested in Bitcoin.
As we say, to the moon!
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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