North Carolina lawmakers propose separate bills in both chambers to allow crypto in pension funds

Lawmakers in North Carolina have proposed legislation in both chambers to create an investment authority with the power to invest up to 5% of various pension funds in cryptocurrencies.

Representative Brenden Jones filed the State Investment Modernization Act, or " House Bill 506 ," on Monday with the House, while a separate but similar act dubbed " Senate Bill 709 " was submitted on Tuesday to the Senate.

Both HB 506 and SB 709 seek to establish an "Investment Authority" that would be located within but independent from the control of the State Treasurer. The bills intend to authorize the investment body to manage investments for a wide range of funds, including several state retirement funds.

Notably, the bills would allow the authority to allocate up to 5% of designated funds for investment in digital assets. Such digital assets include cryptocurrencies, stablecoins or non-fungible tokens. The bills also require that these crypto assets be "maintained with a secure custody solution" and that the authority must consider the risk and reward profile of the assets.

The introduction of the two new bills follows the House Bill 92 (submitted on Feb. 10) and Senate Bill 327 (filed on March 18), both of which seek to authorize the State Treasurer to invest in bitcoin .

Bitcoin has become an investment project among lawmakers in US states, especially after pro-crypto Trump took office in January. The world’s largest crypto gained 1.6% in the past 24 hours to trade at $88,025 at the time of writing, according to The Block’s price page .