The North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill to evaluate the state government's inclusion of digital assets and gold in reserves.

The North Carolina House of Representatives in the United States has passed a bill to study the advantages and disadvantages of the state government holding digital assets and precious metals.

Evaluation of State Government Holding Digital Assets, Precious Metals

The bill has passed the North Carolina House of Representatives and has now been submitted to the state Senate for approval, after which it will require final signature by Governor Roy Cooper.

The bill, titled "National Precious Metals Reserve Study," aims to evaluate whether the state government, if holding digital assets and precious metals, can assist in hedging and reducing investment portfolio volatility to achieve higher returns on the funds held.

The study includes considerations on how to securely hold, liquidate digital assets and precious metals, as well as assessing the need to establish a state-level custodial entity for asset reserves.

The initiator of the bill, Republican House Representative Mark Brody, told media outlet Decrypt:

The original bill was just to appropriate money to buy gold, but as it went into discussion, a lot of people didn't understand it deeply enough, so we decided to start the study first. There are a lot of people in the crypto space and in the precious metals space who understand that the U.S. government is continuously devaluing the dollar.

"National Precious Metals Reserve Study" Collaborates with Blockchain Association

Mark Brody pointed out that this study is a result of collaboration with Dan Spuller, an executive at the Blockchain Association who also participated in a state hearing in early June advocating for the inclusion of digital assets in the research plan.

1/ In Raleigh this week I testified at the @NCLeg House Standing Committee on State #Gov in support of adding #DigitalAssets #Custody + #Bitcoin to an @NCTreasurer study bill as part of HB721. This amendment unanimously passed & is now on the way to #approps@NC_Blockchain pic.twitter.com/PeF6j1fgLD

— Dan Spuller (@DanSpuller) June 15, 2023

In May, North Carolina followed in the footsteps of Florida by banning CBDCs, and Representative Mark Brody was also a co-sponsor of that bill.

The bill will allocate $50,000 for the research, with Mark Brody emphasizing the devaluation issue brought about by using the U.S. dollar as a reserve asset:

I encourage the state government to delve into this area. Are we going to sit idly by and watch the surplus of our reserve assets disappear into inflation, or are we going to convert some of it into assets that keep up with inflation?