SB1649 - 572R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 41, chapter 1, article 4, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-181, to read:

START_STATUTE41-181. Digital assets strategic reserve fund; deposits; definitions

A. The digital assets strategic reserve fund is established consisting of digital assets that are held by, confiscated by or surrendered to this state. The state treasurer shall deposit digital assets that are held by this state in the fund through the use of a secure custody solution by a qualified custodian or in a form of an exchange-traded product that is issued by an investment company registered in this state. The state treasurer shall administer the fund.

B. The state treasurer may invest the total amount of monies deposited in the fund in any fiscal year.

C. The state treasurer may loan digital assets from the fund to generate additional returns If the loan does not increase any financial risks to this state.

D. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Cryptocurrency fair value" means A weighted evaluation of a coin's economic and technical vitality using performance metrics, including:

(a) Adoption by coin owners.

(b) annual transactions.

(d) Development ecosystems.

2. "Cryptographic private key" means a secret key used to encrypt and decrypt data.

3. "Digital asset" includes:

(a) Virtual currency.

(b) Virtual coins.

(c) Cryptocurrency or native on-chain assets that meet the cryptocurrency fair value score of one percent of the digital gold standard benchmark, including any of the following:

(i) Bitcoin.

(ii) Digibyte.

(iii) XRP.

(iv) Stablecoin.

(v) A nonfungible token.

(vi) Dash.

(vii) EGLD.

(viii) Internet computer.

(ix) Near.

(x) Ravencoin.

(xi) Chia.

(xii) Ecash.

(xiii) Monero.

(xiv) Nano.

(xv) Any other digital-only assets that confer economic, proprietary or access rights or powers.

4. "Exchange-traded product" means a financial instrument that is traded on a United States-regulated exchange, that derives value from an underlying pool of assets, including stocks, bonds, commodities or indexes, and that is approved by any of the following:

(a) The United States securities and exchange commission.

(b) The commodities futures trading commission.

5. "Qualified custodian" means either of the following:

(a) a federal or state-chartered bank, trust company or special purpose depository institution or a company regulated by this state that has custody of virtual currency for an approved exchange-traded product.

(b) A technology provider of a secure custody solution.

6. "Secure custody solution" means a technological product or a blended product or service that meets all of the following:

(a) Has a cryptographic private key that secures a digital asset and that is exclusively known by and accessible by a governmental entity.

(b) Has a cryptographic private key that secures a digital asset, that is exclusively contained within an encrypted ENVIRONMENT and that is accessible only through an end-to-end encrypted channel.

(c) Has a cryptographic private key that secures a digital asset that is never contained by, accessible by or controllable through a smartphone.

(d) Has hardware that contains a cryptographic private key that secures a digital asset and that is maintained in at least two geographically diversified AND specially designated secure data centers.

(e) Enforces a multiparty governance structure for authorizing a transaction and user access controls.

(f) Logs each user-initiated action.

(g) Undergoes regular code audits and penetration testing from an auditing firm, which ensures that a vulnerability identified by the auditing firm is promptly remedied.

(h) Is provided by an entity that has implemented a disaster recovery protocol to ensure customers have access to the digital assets if the entity is unAVAILABLE.

7. "Virtual coin" has the same meaning prescribed in section 44-1801. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 44-308, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE44-308. Payment or delivery of abandoned property; definitions

A. On filing the report prescribed in section 44-307, the holder of property that is presumed abandoned shall pay, deliver or cause to be paid or delivered to the department the property described in the report as unclaimed. If the property is an automatically renewable deposit and a penalty or forfeiture in the payment of interest would result, the time for compliance is extended until a penalty or forfeiture would no longer result. The holder of tangible property held in a safe deposit box or any other safekeeping depository shall deliver the property to the department on filing the report prescribed in section 44-307.

B. If the property reported to the department is a security or security entitlement pursuant to title 47, chapter 8, the department may make an endorsement, instruction or entitlement order on behalf of the apparent owner to invoke the duty of the issuer or its transfer agent or the securities intermediary to transfer or dispose of the security or the security entitlement in accordance with title 47, chapter 8.

C. If the holder of property reported to the department is the issuer of a certificated security, the department has the right to obtain a replacement certificate pursuant to section 47-8405, but an indemnity bond is not required.

D. If the property reported to the department is a digital asset, the holder shall report and deliver the digital asset in its native form to the department or the department's designated qualified custodian within thirty days after reporting the property abandoned. On direction by the department, the qualified custodian may stake to receive rewards or receive airdrops. On the expiration of three years after the date the digital asset was transferred to the qualified custodian and if the property remains unclaimed, any airdrops or staking rewards shall be transferred to the bitcoin and digital asset assets reserve fund established by section 41-180. If the holder only possesses a partial private key to the digital asset or is unable to move the digital asset, the holder shall maintain the digital asset until the additional keys required to transfer the digital asset become available. For the purposes of this subsection, "qualified custodian" means any of the following that is licensed in this state to sell digital assets and offer custody services to customers:

1. A company.

2. A federal or state chartered bank.

3. A trust company.

4. A special purpose depository institution.

E. An issuer, the holder and any transfer agent or other person who acts pursuant to the instructions and on behalf of the issuer or holder in accordance with this section are not liable to the apparent owner and are indemnified against all claims of any person in accordance with section 44-310.

F. Each month a holder of property reported pursuant to section 44-307, subsection H shall remit the property with the report of property presumed abandoned or other form prescribed by the department.

G. For the purposes of this section:

1. "qualified custodian" means either of the following:

(a) any of the following that is licensed in this state to sell digital assets and offer custody services to customers:

(i) A company.

(ii) A federal or state-chartered bank.

(iii) A trust company.

(iv) A special purpose depository institution.

(b) A technology provider of a secure custody solution.

2. "Secure custody solution" has the same meaning PRESCRIBED in section 41-181.END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Legislative findings

The legislature finds that:

1. The digital gold standard benchmark is a standard to provide security and stability in the marketplace. The digital gold standard benchmark was established when the market valued the first cryptocurrency at $100,000 per coin.

2. The cryptocurrency fair value metrics form a universal benchmark and not a testimony to any single coin's supremacy. Like gold's role in 19th century trade, the metrics set a standard for all digital gold blockchain-based coins with decentralized, scarce and transferable attributes.

3. The cryptocurrency fair value ensures competition is truthful, transparent and fair and evaluates each coin's performance metrics against the digital gold standard benchmark, revealing whether its fundamental measurements support its price or signal overvaluation.

4. The cryptocurrency fair value model, a cornerstone of informed cryptocurrency investing, calculates a coin's fair market capitalization by comparing its performance and market metrics to the digital gold standard, then drives a per-coin fair value by dividing market capitalization by its circulating supply.