New Hampshire Executive Council Rejects $100 Million Bitcoin-Backed Bond Plan in 3-2 Vote

New Hampshire’s Executive Council rejected a plan to authorize a $100 million bond backed by Bitcoin, voting 3-2 against the proposal from the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority.

The deal would have been issued as a “world’s first Bitcoin-backed municipal bond,” with the authority backing a private-sector bond tied to Bitcoin mining and datacenter firm CleanSpark.

@coindesk

CoinDesk said the bond project was the final step for government approval, after Moody’s Ratings gave the bond a Ba2 rating, and the council’s decision ended the state effort toward establishing the bitcoin-backed instrument.

In the same vote, the councilors sided with those concerned about the state’s financial reputation, and the proposal was described as a first-of-its-kind governmental bitcoin bond under a state's authority.

During the hearing, Councilor Karen Liot Hill said, “I’m not opposed to Bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general,” but argued the state was being asked “to lend a kind of legitimacy to a financial transaction” she described as “very volatile.”

BFA Executive Director James Key-Wallace disputed the framing, telling The Boston Globe, “The only quibble I would have is … I wouldn’t call them ’emerging,'” adding, “They’ve ’emerged.' They’re here.”

Bitbo

Key-Wallace defended the structure as carrying “zero risk for New Hampshire taxpayers,” describing a conduit between private investors and a private borrower with cryptocurrency as collateral.

The Bond Buyer reported that the council blocked the plan because it was “facilitating a private loan, essentially,” and it said the executive council vetoed the proposal by a 3-2 vote.

After the rejection, BFA Executive Director James Key-Wallace told Bloomberg News in a statement that he is “committed to bringing forward any information the executive council may need and would be happy to re-present the item for approval.”

CoinDesk reported that Keith Ammon, a longtime crypto advocate and the majority floor leader in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, called the decision “an extremely short-sighted decision,” and said, “We're not giving up.”

The Bond Buyer said the proposed structure would have allowed investors to get a higher return if the value of bitcoin increased, but carry none of the downside risk, with CleanSpark as the borrower and BitGo as custodian.

While the council vote killed the bond proposal, the sources also tied the decision to New Hampshire’s broader digital-asset posture, including support from Governor Kelly Ayotte and the state’s earlier move to give the treasurer discretion to invest in Bitcoin.