New Hampshire lawmakers to hold hearing on $100M Bitcoin bonds

Hearing Scheduled for $100M Bitcoin Bonds

The proposed bonds to be backed by cryptocurrency still need approval from New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte and the state’s five-member executive council.

New Hampshire governor signing the May 2025 crypto reserve bill into law. Source: Kelly Ayotte

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Unlike traditional municipal bonds, a BTC-backed bond could be an innovative financial instrument, but one that potentially introduces "substantial risk," according to David Krause, an emeritus associate professor of finance at Marquette University.

Krause authored an analysis of the proposed bond in April, saying that while a private borrower, CleanSpark, was putting up the funds for collateral, this approach offered "no recourse to state funds or taxpayers."

"While the bond may serve as a proof of concept for integrating digital assets into structured finance, it is not well suited as a general-purpose public finance tool," said the professor. "Its primary significance lies in highlighting the challenges of adapting traditional financial frameworks to highly volatile digital assets."

Credit Rating and Precedent

In March, Moody's assigned the Bitcoin bond a provisional Ba2 rating, falling under the company's "speculative grade" category for vehicles with substantial credit risk.

Although New Hampshire may become one of the first US states to issue Bitcoin-backed bonds, the idea previously gained traction in El Salvador. Under President Nayib Bukele, who also pushed for a law that later established Bitcoin as legal tender in the country, El Salvador's government announced $1 billion in Bitcoin-backed "Volcano Bonds" to fund a proposed Bitcoin City project.

Proposed in 2022, the idea never came to fruition following a crypto market downturn.

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