New Hampshire Executive Council Rejects $100M Bitcoin Bond

New Hampshire's Executive Council has rejected a proposal to issue up to $100 million in Bitcoin-backed revenue bonds, a pioneering financial plan that would have been the first of its kind issued through a U.S. state authority. The five-member council voted 3-2 against the plan on July 8, blocking the final state approval required for the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority to proceed.

The proposal called for the authority to act as a conduit issuer for taxable revenue bonds to finance a private borrower connected to Bitcoin mining and data center company CleanSpark. Under the structure, the borrower would have posted approximately $160 million in Bitcoin as collateral for bonds worth up to $100 million, with the cryptocurrency held in segregated wallets managed by custodian BitGo. The bonds were designed as limited-recourse obligations, meaning bondholders' claims would be restricted to the Bitcoin collateral and related proceeds, explicitly shielding state taxpayers and the government's general credit from any repayment risk.

Governor Kelly Ayotte supported the proposal, stating it was a historic and innovative way to bring new investment opportunities to New Hampshire...