Florida Revives Bitcoin Crypto Reserve Bill After Earlier Pushback

A Senate-led attempt after broader efforts stalled

The new Senate proposal follows and significantly diverges from Floridas earlier attempts to authorize state-level crypto investments.

On Oct. 17, 2025, Republican Party Representative Webster Barnaby filed House Bill (HB) 183, which sought to allow the state and certain public entities to invest up to 10% of their funds in a broad range of digital assets, including Bitcoin, crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), crypto securities, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other blockchain-based products.

HB 183 was a revised version of HB 487, which was withdrawn in June after failing to advance out of a House operations subcommittee. While Barnabys revised proposal added stricter custody, documentation and fiduciary standards, the broad asset scope and potential exposure of pension and trust funds faced pushback from lawmakers.

SB 1038 removes pension and retirement funds entirely and places oversight directly under the CFO through a standalone reserve structure.

Its market-cap eligibility rule mirrors approaches adopted in states like New Hampshire and Texas, both of which enacted more narrowly defined Bitcoin reserve frameworks in 2025.

Whats next in the legislative process？

SB 1038 is contingent on companion legislation establishing the necessary trust-fund mechanics for the reserve. This means it cannot take effect unless related bills are also enacted during the same legislative session.

A House companion measure, HB 1039, was also filed, signaling coordinated Senate and House backing.

If the legislation advances, the CFO would be mandated to submit reports to legislative leaders starting in December 2026, detailing the reserves holdings, value and management actions.

Whether the proposal advances will depend on whether lawmakers view the narrower, Bitcoin-focused structure as sufficiently distinct from earlier efforts that failed to gain traction.