“Texas will be the crypto leader. Cryptocurrency is now coming to Texas grocery stores.”

Texas has seen the upside of China’s decision to cancel bitcoin mining, in what set off the ‘Great Mining Migration’ to Austin, Texas. The Texas Blockchain Council has grown to 70 members and is led by Lee Brachter, the President of the organization. And next Friday, he will be hosting the Texas Blockchain Summit - an event that could prove to be the largest state-level blockchain one-day summit ever.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has met with the Texas Blockchain Council twice already. Recently Abbott commented on Twitter that, “Texas will be the crypto leader. Cryptocurrency is now coming to Texas grocery stores.” Abbott was referring to the decision by H-E-B to put cryptocurrency kiosks in some Texas grocery stores.

President of the Texas Blockchain Association Lee Brachter stated "Texas is poised to become the jurisdiction of choice for blockchain innovation for several reasons including; the business friendly climate that has been cultivated in Texas for many years, the efforts of our Texas Blockchain Council working alongside lawmakers like Representative Tan Parker and Senator Angela Paxton to create legal and regulatory frameworks that allow for entrepreneurs to innovate."

Texas House Bills 1576 and 4474 officially took effect on Sept. 1 after being signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in June of 2021. Texas House Bill 1576 establishes a working group on blockchain technology. HR 4474 was a bill that updated the Uniform Commercial Code to recognize cryptocurrency and becomes the latest state - along with Rhode Island and Wyoming - to do so. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of the Texas Department of Banking issued a letter authorizing all Texas state-chartered banks to custody cryptocurrency.

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