How Texas Got Bipartisan Support to Buy $10 Million Worth of Bitcoin - Ep. 859

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Win a free one-year subscription to Bits + Bips Premium by completing our survey! The state of Texas just passed a law that creates a $10 million strategic Bitcoin reserve. Laura talks to Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, who helped drive this new law. He explains how bipartisan support made it possible, why this might be the start of a broader trend, and what’s next for public Bitcoin ownership in the U.S. We get into: The logic behind the $10 million number Why custody and compliance are key Whether California or Illinois could ever do something similar And how other states are reacting Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! FalconX Ledn Guest: Lee Bratcher, President and Founder of the Texas Blockchain Council Links: Texas Blockchain Council Bloomberg: Texas Gov. Abbott Signs Bill to Create State Bitcoin Reserve Unchained: Senator Cynthia Lummis on Why Crypto Now Has Bipartisan Support Timestamps: 🎬0:00 Intro 🏛️ 2:12 How the idea for a $10M strategic Bitcoin reserve became law in Texas 💰 5:42 Why lawmakers settled on $10 million—and what that number really means 🔐 8:59 How Texas plans to custody its bitcoin, and why it matters 📉 10:59 Why the bill includes language about using derivatives for BTC 🏦 12:12 What exchange the state might use to actually buy the bitcoin 🗳️ 14:59 Who owns crypto in Texas—and whether politics play a role 🤝 18:05 Why Bitcoin isn’t such a partisan issue in the Lone Star State 🧡 22:20 How Lee Bratcher got orange-pilled into Bitcoin 📜 24:38 Why Lee thinks the Lummis-Gillibrand bill could pass, and the future of bitcoin bonds 🌎 27:45 Which state might be next to adopt a Bitcoin reserve law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What can Unchained do for you? We want to know. Fill out our survey so we can serve you better,
0:06.2	and you might win a free one-year subscription to Bits and Bips Premium. Visit UnchainedCripto.com
0:11.6	slash survey. That is UnchainedCripto.com slash survey. Or check out the show notes for this episode.
0:18.0	A couple years ago, we did a survey of Texas likely voters, and it was a
0:22.9	pretty large survey through a third-party surveying firm, and we found pretty equal support amongst
0:31.2	various political parties, Republicans, Democrats, and Independence. Now, where there was a huge
0:36.6	divergence was demographically from the age perspective.
0:40.1	About half of Texans under the age of 30 own some sort of digital asset, which is way above the national average.
0:47.3	Well, above the national average for any age, but only around 6% of Texans over the age of 70 do.
0:55.0	So that's where you get, Texas is probably close to the national average of, you know, between 18 and 22% digital asset ownership, you know, depending on what survey you're looking at.
1:05.0	But it is highly age dependent, but it's not really party dependent.
1:19.5	Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no-hap resource for all things crypto. I'm your host,
1:24.8	Laura Shin. Every episode, we feature listener comments and reviews of the show. Here's a comment on Apple Podcasts from Fewer to Fus, who wrote, Unchained,
1:29.1	The Chopping Block and Bits and Bips are a wonderful trifecta of Signal in a noisy, crowded space.
1:34.2	Thank you for having the timeliest guests and most relevant conversations about crypto for folks
1:38.5	in the industry on the internet. To have your comment featured, write a review of the podcast overall,
1:43.4	or leave a comment on our video on YouTube FarcesterX.
1:47.3	This is the June 27th, 2025 episode of Unchained.
1:51.5	Imagine an AI that speaks crypto and does the work of a team of analysts.
1:56.8	Introducing Focal by Falcon X, bringing in clarity to a world of noise.
2:02.0	Visit askfocal.com.
2:04.8	Leden is a leading platform for Bitcoin-backed loans, offering a secure and transparent way
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Laura Shin, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Laura Shin and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.