New Hampshire’s Executive Council rejected a proposed $100 million bitcoin-backed municipal bond on the July 8 ballot by a 3-2 vote, suspending the Corporation Finance Authority structure that would have moved bitcoin collateral into a state-linked public financing process.
The vote comes after the New Hampshire Department of Corporate Finance announced last November that its board had approved an initial $100 million issuance backed by Bitcoin, but noted that the issuance still required approval from the governor and executive committee.
That approval was not granted.
As the Boston Globe reported, City Council members voted against the plan after a motion to table the proposal failed a second time.
Why is rejection important?
The bond was structured by Wave Digital Assets, Rosemawr Management, and BFA, with Mr. Orrick advising the authorities, and BitGo Trust Company acting as custodian of the Bitcoin collateral. The BFA’s announcement said the agreement was designed to ensure that taxpayer funds and national guarantees are not at risk, a point also emphasized by Governor Kelly Ayotte and BFA Executive Director James KeyWallace.
Moody’s has assigned a preliminary Ba2 rating to Waverose Finance Project’s taxable revenue bonds of up to $100 million. firememecoins previously cited the rating as a credit market milestone, as the bond is tied to a loan to NH CleanSpark Borrower Trust 2026-1, with Bitcoin pledged as collateral.
The setting of public recognition became central to the story. The vote showed that rated Bitcoin-backed structures can fail even after moving from credit design to government approval chambers. As such, the rejection is less about Bitcoin’s market price and more about whether Treasury officials are willing to lend state-related legitimacy to Bitcoin collateral, even if proponents believe it is a conduit structure that does not expose taxpayers to repayment risk.
Moody’s previous ratings and previous coverage of Crypto Slate had already mentioned how Bitcoin pricing, haircuts, and liquidation would be done within the bond structure. The City Council vote addressed public finance issues separately, and officials were reluctant to put this version of the structure into the municipal bond pipeline.
This decision will depend on what public finance will accept as collateral and how far Bitcoin-backed structures can advance once they leave the world of crypto credit professionals and enter government approval rooms.
The final action leaves New Hampshire’s bitcoin-backed bond experiment pending public approval. BFA officials may revive the idea, but this version of the proposal failed before moving from a rated credit structure to an approved municipal bond issuance.
(Tag Translation) Bitcoin
