North Carolina lawmakers have introduced bills in the House and Senate that could see the state’s treasurer allocate up to 5% of various state retirement funds into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
The Investment Modernization Act (House Bill 506), introduced by Representative Brenden Jones on March 24, would create an independent investment authority under the state’s Treasury to determine which digital assets could be suitable for inclusion into the state retirement funds.
An identical bill, the State Investment Modernization Act (Senate Bill 709), was introduced into the state’s Senate on March 25.
The bills define a digital asset as a cryptocurrency, stablecoin, non-fungible token (NFT), or any other asset that is electronic in nature that confers economic, proprietary or access rights.
The North Carolina bills don’t set market cap criteria for digital assets, unlike other crypto bills that are working their way into law at the state level.
Source: Bitcoin Laws
The newly created agency, dubbed the North Carolina Investment Authority, would, however, need to carefully weigh the risk and reward profile of each digital asset and ensure the funds are maintained in a secure custody solution.
Bitcoin legislation tracker Bitcoin Laws noted on X that House Bill 506 wasn’t drafted as a Bitcoin reserve bill as it does not mandate the investment authority to hold Bitcoin (BTC) — or any digital asset — over the long term.
North Carolina wants in on Bitcoin bill race
On March 18, North Carolina senators introduced the Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act (Senate Bill 327), which calls for the treasurer to allocate up to 10% of public funds specifically into Bitcoin.
The bill — introduced by Republicans Todd Johnson, Brad Overcash and Timothy Moffitt — aims to leverage Bitcoin investment as a “financial innovation strategy” to strengthen North Carolina’s economic standing.
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The treasurer would need to ensure that the Bitcoin is stored in a multi-signature cold storage wallet, and the BTC could only be liquidated during a “severe financial crisis,” with approval from two-thirds of North Carolina’s General Assembly.
The bill would also create a Bitcoin Economic Advisory Board to oversee the reserve’s management.
According to Bitcoin Law, 41 Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced at the state level in 23 states, and 35 of those 41 bills remain live.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, both of which will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission will host four more crypto roundtables — focusing on crypto trading, custody, tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) — after hosting its first crypto roundtable on March 21.
The series of roundtables, organized by the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, will kick off with a discussion on tailoring regulation for crypto trading on April 11, the SEC said in a March 25 statement.
A roundtable on crypto custody will follow on April 25, with another to discuss tokenization and moving assets onchain on May 12. The fourth roundtable in the series will discuss DeFi on June 6.
A series of four crypto roundtable discussions are scheduled from April through to June. Source: SEC
“The Crypto Task Force roundtables are an opportunity for us to hear a lively discussion among experts about what the regulatory issues are and what the Commission can do to solve them,” said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the task force lead.
The specific agenda and speakers for each roundtable have yet to be disclosed, but all are open for the public to watch online or to attend at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
SEC softens on crypto with new leadership
The agency’s Crypto Task Force was launched on Jan. 21 by acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda. It’s tasked with establishing a workable crypto framework for the agency to use.
The task force held its first roundtable on March 21 with a discussion titled “How We Got Here and How We Get Out — Defining Security Status.”
The SEC will also be hosting a roundtable about AI’s role in the financial industry on March 27, according to a March 25 release.
Join us on March 27 for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. Topics include the risks, benefits, and governance of AI.
More details: https://t.co/ekX2RWp2KQ pic.twitter.com/7fH3j1tlwj
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) March 25, 2025
The roundtable will discuss the risks, benefits, and governance of AI in the financial industry, with Uyeda, Peirce and fellow SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw slated to speak.
Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The regulator has dismissed a growing number of enforcement actions against crypto firms it launched under Gensler.
Related: Bitnomial drops SEC lawsuit ahead of XRP futures launch in the US
Uyeda, who took the reins after Gensler resigned on Jan. 20, flagged plans on March 17 to scrap a rule proposed under the Biden administration that would tighten crypto custody standards for investment advisers.
Uyeda also said in a March 10 speech that he had asked SEC staff for options to abandon part of proposed changes that would expand regulation of alternative trading systems to include crypto firms, requiring them to register as exchanges.
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William_potter | Istock | Getty Images
The U.S. on Tuesday added dozens of Chinese tech companies to its export blacklist in its first such effort under the Donald Trump administration, as it doubles down on curtailing Beijing’s artificial intelligence and advanced computing capabilities.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added 80 organizations to an “entity list,” with more than 50 from China, barring American companies from supplying to those on the list without government permits.
The companies were blacklisted for allegedly acting contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, the agency said, as part of its efforts to further restrict Beijing’s access to exascale computing tech, which can process vast amounts of data at very high speeds, as well as quantum technologies.
Dozens of Chinese entities were targeted for their alleged involvement in developing advanced AI, supercomputers and high-performance AI chips for military purposes, the Commerce Department said, adding that two firms were supplying to sanctioned entities such as Huawei and its affiliated chipmaker HiSilicon.
It blacklisted 27 Chinese entities for acquiring U.S.-origin items to support China’s military modernization and seven firms for helping advance China’s quantum technology capabilities.
Among the organizations in the “entity list” were also six subsidiaries of Chinese cloud-computing firm Inspur Group, which had been blacklisted by the Joe Biden administration in 2023.
The latest additions “cast an ever-widening net aimed at third countries, transit points and intermediaries,” said Alex Capri, a senior lecturer at National University of Singapore and author of “Techno-Nationalism: How it’s reshaping trade, geopolitics and society.”
Chinese firms have managed to gain access to U.S. strategic dual-use technologies via certain third parties, he said, referring to loopholes that have allowed Chinese companies access to U.S. technologies despite restrictions.
“U.S. officials will continue to step up tracking and tracing operations aimed at the smuggling of advanced semiconductors made by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices,” he said.
The expanded export restrictions come at a time when tensions between Washington and Beijing have been rising with the Trump administration ratcheting up tariffs against China.
The rapid rise of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has boosted the adoption of open-source low-cost AI models in China, putting pressure on leading U.S. competitors with higher-cost, proprietary models.
The Biden administration imposed sweeping export controls against China, encompassing everything from semiconductors to supercomputers under the so-called “small yard, high fence” policy. The approach aims to place restrictions on a small number of technologies with significant military potential while maintaining normal economic exchange in other areas.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey I. Kessler said the agency was “sending a clear, resounding message” that the Trump administration will prevent U.S. technologies from “being misused for high performance computing, hypersonic missiles, military aircraft training, and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) that threaten our national security.”
“The entity list is one of many powerful tools at our disposal to identify and cut off foreign adversaries seeking to exploit American technology for malign purposes,” he added.
Inspur Group and Huawei did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
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