A recent analytical report from prominent asset manager VanEck asserts that US states could buy up to 247,000 BTC if their reserve bills pull through.
Matthew Sigel, the head of digital assets research at VanEck, revealed this staggering statistic in a recent report today. The piece collated the 17 states that have introduced bills to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve and considered how much reserve funds they proposed for acquiring the asset.
US States Could Buy 247,000 BTC
Particularly, the report shows that 17 states introduced bills to buy and hold Bitcoin through state reserve or pension funds. However, only 16 are still alive, as a House bill to buy Bitcoin in Wyoming failed to garner enough votes to pass.
Furthermore, four of the active legislations are either newly introduced or have yet to be deliberated on. The states in this category include Massachusetts, North Dakota, Iowa, and North Carolina.
Others in states like Oklahoma, Ohio, New Hampshire, Utah, Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Montana have reached committee hearings. Utah is the only state to have advanced its bill after a favorable vote.
Meanwhile, a chart following the report shows how much each state would allocate to Bitcoin purchases and their corresponding value. Notably, VanEck drew the figures from their estimated funding size and percentage of Bitcoin allocation according to their individual proposals.
Estimated US State Bitcoin Purchase per VanEck
Their estimated Bitcoin acquisition totaled 242,787 BTC, worth $23.54 billion. According to Arkham, this figure is above the United States’ 198,109 BTC stash.
Moreover, Sigel noted that the estimated figure is independent of allocations from US-based pension funds, which will likely be appreciated if these states adopt Bitcoin.
Supply Shock Imminent
Interestingly, the proposed purchases will add to the growing number of institutional Bitcoin acquisitions. Furthermore, the escalating demand for the limitedly capped crypto asset has sparked speculation of an impending supply shock.
A recent analysis shows that Bitcoin is growing increasingly scarce by the day. Inflows from US Bitcoin spot ETFs and other demand sources and miners’ meager output daily are far apart, and most of the assets are already in the hands of individuals and entities.
The X post highlighted the depleting nature of Bitcoin’s supply, even in the over-the-counter (OTC) desk. With over 140,000 BTC allegedly left, ETF inflows and MicroStrategy’s incessant acquisition could dry the supply up.
Moreover, analysis from Bitwise shows that 69.4% of the Bitcoins in circulation are in the hands of individuals. Hence, governments and private institutions looking to acquire Bitcoin would have to wait for them to sell.