Texas HB 815 Proposes $10M Crypto Cap for Local Governments

Texas HB 815 would give every city and county a separate $10 million ceiling for investment in Bitcoin (BTC) or another cryptocurrency, according to the proposal filed by Texas state Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Democrat.

The bill would amend the Texas Public Funds Investment Act and create an option for local public funds, not a requirement to allocate public money to crypto. Each jurisdiction would control its own ceiling; no single statewide investment pool would sit beneath the cap.

If approved and signed, HB 815 would take effect Sept. 1, 2027. Until then, the proposal would not authorize local governments to make crypto investments under its terms.

What does HB 815 change for local governments?

HB 815 would make crypto an optional investment category for Texas cities and counties. A participating jurisdiction could allocate up to $10 million, while a jurisdiction that chose not to adopt an investment policy would face no requirement to purchase Bitcoin or any other digital asset.

Before investing, each participating government would have to include crypto assets in its written investment policy. This condition would place digital assets within the jurisdiction’s formal investment framework rather than treating a purchase as an exception to established public-finance procedures.

The bill’s core mechanics are straightforward:

• A ceiling of $10 million for each city and county.
• A separate limit for each jurisdiction, with no shared statewide pool.
• Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, rather than Bitcoin alone.
• A written investment policy covering crypto before any purchase.

For a city or county finance office, $10 million represents a maximum authorization, not a funding commitment or guaranteed allocation. Neighboring jurisdictions would not combine their allowances into greater statewide purchasing power because HB 815 would not establish a common crypto fund.

The asset provision also gives local officials more discretion than a Bitcoin-only rule would. HB 815 would not require local holdings to be limited to BTC, although it would not compel diversification either. A government could remain within the $10 million ceiling while selecting the specific cryptocurrency authorized under its own written policy.

Scope relative to earlier proposals

HB 815 is a narrower version of HB 4258, an earlier Texas proposal that did not pass. The later measure would not require local governments to limit holdings to Bitcoin. It also omits the $500 billion market-value threshold and custody requirements contained in Texas’ separate Strategic Bitcoin Reserve measure.

Those omissions matter operationally. HB 815 would not condition local participation on the reserve measure’s $500 billion threshold and would not import that measure’s custody requirements. Instead, the described bill would leave local officials to address custody through their own investment policies and implementation decisions.

The written-policy mandate would provide a formal place to address practical questions about the selected asset, allocation size, custody arrangements and conditions for purchases. HB 815 would establish the authorization ceiling and policy prerequisite without imposing a Bitcoin-only restriction or reproducing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve measure’s broader conditions.

That structure concentrates implementation responsibility at the local level. Each city and county would decide whether crypto belongs in its public-finance portfolio, what position size to permit and which asset or assets to name. The $10 million ceiling would bound each decision without directing the outcome.

The next hard date is Sept. 1, 2027, and that date arrives only if HB 815 receives approval and signature. If enacted, its first market-structure effect would be separate, locally governed crypto allocations under written investment policies, with authority taking effect Sept. 1, 2027.