PANews reported on February 8 that according to CoinDesk, as Utah became the first state to pass legislation allowing public funds to be invested in crypto assets, lawmakers from two more states joined the ranks this week: Kentucky and Maryland. Although these state initiatives are broadly related to the so-called "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve" plan at the Republican-led federal level, each state has proposed its own measures, and the specific ways of investing state funds in digital assets vary.

This week, Maryland Democratic Representative Caylin Young introduced a new bill to promote the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, similar to the reserve envisioned by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis. In Maryland, the reserve would be funded through enforcement revenue from gambling violations. Legislation in Kentucky also came this week, and there are currently two bills that would allow state retirement funds to invest in digital asset ETFs. The bills would also create barriers to the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Fifteen other states are weighing related legislation in the current session, with more expected to follow, and two states—Michigan and Wisconsin—have already invested a portion of their retirement funds in crypto ETFs. So far, 22 states have either enacted bills, are seriously discussing proposals, or have already started investing in cryptocurrencies.