Crypto Law Profile
Georgia SB 178 proposed to let the State Depository Board authorize the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of any fund in Bitcoin, with custody, ETP, and lending limits. It expired without passage.
Georgia Senate Bill 178 was an unenacted 2025-2026 state bill that would have amended Georgia’s state depository laws to let the State Depository Board permit the state treasurer to invest public funds in Bitcoin. The proposal did not become law. As of the Georgia Senate’s 2026 session-final composite status, SB 178 remained listed with its February 18, 2025 referral to the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee and no later passage entry.
SB 178 focused on public treasury authority rather than private crypto activity. The introduced text would have amended O.C.G.A. Section 50-17-63 to add Bitcoin to the list of investments the State Depository Board may permit for the state treasurer. It defined Bitcoin as the decentralized digital currency hosted on the public blockchain of the same name.
The bill’s asset-handling provisions were unusually detailed for a state treasury proposal. Any digital assets acquired under the bill would have had to be held directly through a secure custody solution, on behalf of the state by a qualified custodian, or through an exchange traded product issued by a registered investment company.
The proposed definition of “qualified custodian” covered federal or state chartered banks, trust companies, special purpose depository institutions, or state-regulated companies that hold digital assets for an approved exchange traded product. The “secure custody solution” definition included government-only private-key access, encrypted key environments, restrictions on smartphone access, geographically diversified secure data centers, multiparty transaction governance, user-access controls, audit logging, disaster recovery, code audits, and penetration testing.
SB 178 also would have allowed the board to permit loans of digital assets, but only if the loan did not increase financial risk to the state. That provision should be read as proposed legislative text rather than current Georgia law.
SB 178 was a Georgia public funds bill. It would not have created a retail crypto licensing framework, consumer disclosure regime, securities exemption, tax rule, or private custody safe harbor. Its direct actors were the State Depository Board and the Office of the State Treasurer, and its legal effect would have been limited to state treasury investment authority if enacted.
Substantively, the bill fits within government crypto holdings, with secondary relevance to custody, banking and financial access, and the regulatory perimeter for exchange traded crypto exposure. The asset-class focus is Bitcoin.
SB 178 was filed in the Senate hopper on February 13, 2025 and was read and referred on February 18, 2025. The final official Senate composite status for the 2026 session still showed SB 178 in the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee with no committee report, floor vote, cross-chamber passage, governor action, act number, or effective date.
Georgia explains that its General Assembly runs in two-year cycles, and that if a bill does not pass in the second year, a future effort must start over. This profile therefore treats SB 178 as expired after the 2025-2026 General Assembly, while preserving its text as an important state-level Bitcoin treasury proposal.
Would add Bitcoin to the investments the State Depository Board may permit for the state treasurer.
Would bar the board from permitting more than 5% of any fund to be invested in Bitcoin.
Digital assets would have to be held through secure custody, a qualified custodian, or an ETP issued by a registered investment company.
Defines secure custody with government-only key access, encrypted channels, multiparty governance, audit logging, disaster recovery, and testing.
Would let the board permit digital asset loans only if the loan does not increase financial risk to the state.
SB 178 was filed in the Georgia Senate hopper.
The Senate read and referred SB 178 to Banking and Financial Institutions.
The official Senate final composite listed SB 178 with no action beyond B&FI referral.
Georgia Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, Georgia State Depository Board, Georgia State Treasurer
Bitcoin
As of the 2026 session-final composite status, SB 178 had no action listed beyond referral to Senate Banking and Financial Institutions. Treat the proposal as expired unless reintroduced in a future Georgia General Assembly.
