The New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office announced that state lawmakers will consider a $100 million Bitcoin-backed bond issue in a public hearing. The plan on the agenda stands out as a new step on how digital asset-backed financing tools can be used in the public sector.
There is a $100 million bond plan on the agenda
According to an update added to the agenda of New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte and the state executive council, the state’s Business Finance Authority will meet to discuss the bond issuance in question on Wednesday. The institution approved this structure in November 2025 and announced that the issuance could be implemented after the approval of the governorship and the five-member executive council.
Kelly Ayotte said that after approval, this step could bring new investment opportunities to the state and make New Hampshire stand out in the field of digital finance. Ayotte also emphasized that the structure was designed without risking state funds or taxpayer resources.
Kelly Ayotte stated that this initiative could provide the state with more investment opportunities and make New Hampshire stand out in the field of digital finance without risking public resources.
Kelly Ayotte serves as the current governor of New Hampshire. The recent steps taken by the state government indicate that a policy framework that is more open to digital assets has been formed.
Strategic Bitcoin reserve law attracted attention
New Hampshire became the first US state to pass a law creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve in May 2025. The regulation in question allows investing up to 5% of public funds in digital assets with a market value of over $500 billion. This threshold created a framework that predominantly covers Bitcoin in practice.
The current bond structure offers a different model from classical municipal bonds. Although collateralizing the bond with Bitcoin is considered remarkable in terms of bringing digital assets to the structured finance field, cautious evaluations are also made due to risks arising from volatility.
Experts draw attention to the risks of the structure
David Krause, retired finance professor from Marquette University, stated in his evaluation published in April that this tool offers an innovative model, but also carries significant risks. Krause noted that the funds required for the guarantee are planned to be covered by private debtor CleanSpark, so there is no direct recourse for the state budget or taxpayers.
Mini dictionary: Speculative rating is the rating group used for debt instruments that are considered to have higher credit risk. Such ratings indicate that the capacity to repay the investor may be more sensitive to economic conditions.
David Krause emphasizes that the bond may provide an example of the use of digital assets in structured finance, but does not seem suitable as a general-purpose public financing instrument.
Moody’s gave this Bitcoin bond a provisional Ba2 rating in March. This level is in the speculative rating category used by the organization for instruments with significant credit risk.
The El Salvador example did not yield results
The idea of Bitcoin-backed bonds has also been brought up in El Salvador before. New Hampshire could be one of the leading states if such an export were to occur in the United States, but previous examples of a similar model have not achieved concrete results.
During the reign of President Nayib Bukele, the El Salvador administration announced the $1 billion Bitcoin-collateralized Volcano Bonds plan to finance the proposed Bitcoin City project. The project, announced in 2022, was not implemented after the decline in the crypto market.
