The Daily: New Hampshire becomes first US state to pass 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' bill, CZ makes $1 million BTC price prediction and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter,  The Daily , which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Tuesday! The kerfuffle over U.S. federal crypto regulation is still ongoing in Washington D.C., as Democrats and Republicans split into separate roundtables on industry oversight and hopes for bipartisan agreement begin to fray.

Meanwhile, in today's newsletter: New Hampshire becomes the first U.S. state to pass a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" bill, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao makes a $1 million bitcoin price prediction, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan warns of a challenging summer for crypto if U.S. legislative efforts are derailed and more.

Plus, the Bitcoin community remains divided over the plan by Core developers to remove the OP_RETURN limit.

Let's get started.

New Hampshire becomes first US state to pass 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' bill

New Hampshire has become the first U.S. state to pass a so-called "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" bill , authorizing treasury investments in digital assets.

• Governor Kelly Ayotte signed the HB 302 bill into law, enabling up to 10% of the state's general fund to be allocated to precious metals and digital assets with more than a $500 billion market cap — a threshold currently only met by bitcoin.
• "New Hampshire is once again First in the Nation!" Governor Ayotte posted on X. "Just signed a new law allowing our state to invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals."
• The state can invest in bitcoin directly or via an exchange-traded fund, and may self-custody the assets or use a qualified custodian.
• "History just tilted toward sound money in the 'Live Free or Die' state. Moments ago, the New Hampshire Governor signed HB 302 into law, creating the nation's first Bitcoin & Digital Assets Reserve Fund," Satoshi Action Fund wrote in a statement.
• Other states, including Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Texas, are mulling similar legislation, largely based on a plan drafted by the pro-Bitcoin nonprofit.
• Meanwhile, Florida indefinitely shelved its House Bill 487 and Senate Bill 550, halting efforts that would have authorized investments in bitcoin from certain public funds in the state.

CZ predicts a $500,000 to $1 million bitcoin price this cycle

Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao predicted bitcoin could surge to between $500,000 and $1 million this cycle , with the total crypto market cap reaching $5 trillion in 2025.

• Zhao had similarly hinted at a $100,000 bitcoin price prediction back in 2020. That eventually played out, with bitcoin crossing $100,000 for the first time in December 2024.
• However, in an interview with Farokh Radio, Zhao also shared broader thoughts on the crypto space, pointing to memecoins as a particular source of froth, saying 99.99% will fail and that they distract from real innovation, like AI and decentralized science.
• Zhao expects blockchain and AI to become deeply integrated, sees crypto playing a key role in global scientific funding and reiterated views that decentralized exchanges will eventually surpass centralized ones.
• The Binance founder also praised the Trump administration's pro-crypto stance, saying the U.S. has flipped "180 degrees" from where it was 100 days ago.
• Meanwhile, Standard Chartered initiated coverage on Binance's BNB token on Tuesday, forecasting its price to climb to $2,775 by the end of 2028 — a gain of over 360%.

Bitwise CIO warns of tough summer for crypto if Congress 'fumbles the ball' on legislation

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said he is increasingly concerned that the U.S. Congress will "fumble the ball at the one-yard line" on crypto regulation .

• The GENIUS Act, once seen as a bipartisan win on stablecoins, lost critical Democratic support over the weekend amid concerns about President Trump's increasing foray into digital assets.
• The political jockeying also threatens to undermine progress on other crypto-related legislation.
• However, Hougan remains optimistic that most crypto assets can reach new all-time highs this year and bitcoin can rise above $200,000 if Congress can get stablecoin and market structure bills passed.
• "The next few days and weeks will be fraught," he said. "If legislation fizzles, this could be a challenging summer for crypto. But if Washington can get its act together, I think the bull market will be unstoppable."

Kenya court rules against Sam Altman's World over biometric data

Kenya's High Court ordered Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning Orb crypto project World to delete all locally collected biometric data within seven days , citing violations of constitutional privacy rights.

• Justice Aburili Roselyne's ruling also permanently bars World from collecting or processing further biometric data, including facial images and iris scans, in Kenya.
• Kenya was once one of the largest markets for sign-ups to World, with hundreds of thousands of users registering before the project was suspended by local authorities in August 2023. However, in June 2024, World announced plans to resume operations after local police dropped their investigation.
• While Kenya shuts the door, World is expanding into the U.S., but also faces fresh regulatory heat in Indonesia over alleged data violations.

eToro targets $4 billion valuation and $500 million raise from US IPO

Crypto and equities trading platform eToro is targeting a $4 billion valuation and up to a $500 million raise through its upcoming Nasdaq IPO, under the ticker ETOR.

• The offering consists of 10 million shares priced between $46 and $50, with half provided by eToro and the remainder by existing stockholders.
• The listing marks eToro's second attempt to go public after a failed SPAC deal in 2022 and comes as other crypto firms cautiously weigh U.S. IPOs amid shifting policy under the Trump administration.

In the next 24 hours

• The U.S. Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision is due at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
• The U.S. FOMC press conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
• EigenLayer and Kaspa are set for token unlocks.

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