New Hampshire Executive Council Rejects $100M Bitcoin-Backed Bond Proposal in 3-2 Vote on Wednesday

On Wednesday (July 9), the New Hampshire Executive Council voted 3-2 against a proposal to issue up to $100 million in taxable conduit revenue bonds backed by bitcoin. The bonds would have been issued through the Business Finance Authority as a conduit for CleanSpark, a bitcoin mining and data center company.

The transaction would have relied on approximately $160 million in bitcoin deposited as collateral, with a liquidation threshold at $140 million. BitGo was designated as custodian for the bitcoin holdings in segregated wallets. Moody's Investors Service had assigned the proposed bonds a Ba2 speculative-grade rating in March. State Representative Keith Ammon criticized the decision, calling it "extremely short-sighted" and stating the rejection "chokes revenue" for future conduit bonds.