Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock appointed four outside members to the state's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee on Thursday as the state moves forward with one of the first U.S. bitcoin reserves.
Created under Senate Bill 21, the five-member committee, which includes Hancock, will advise the comptroller on recommendations related to bitcoin valuation, custody, and risk and reserve management.
"The Legislature gave the Comptroller's office a clear responsibility to administer the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and that work must be done with transparency, security and strong financial controls," Hancock said in a statement. "This advisory committee brings together the kind of expertise needed to help the state carry out that direction carefully, responsibly and in the best interest of Texas taxpayers."
The appointees include CleanSpark CFO and president Gary Vecchiarelli, Cormint Data Systems founder and CEO Jamie McAvity, Southern Methodist University law professor Carla Reyes, and investment executive Laurie Dotter.
McAvity leads the Texas-based bitcoin mining firm Cormint, which operates a 130-megawatt facility in Fort Stockton.
Vecchiarelli helped build CleanSpark's digital asset management program, including "establishing an institutional-grade trading desk, yield strategies, borrowing facilities and governance policies for bitcoin transactions."
Reyes, a professor focused on digital asset and commercial law, also serves on the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission's Innovation Advisory Committee alongside industry heavyweights like Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.
Dotter chairs the Investment Advisory Board for the Employees' Retirement System of Texas and serves on the Comptroller's primary Investment Advisory Board.
Alongside the committee, the Comptroller's office also issued a Request for Proposals earlier this month, seeking a provider that will be responsible for acquiring, holding, managing, and reporting the state's bitcoin (BTC) holdings.
Texas became the third state to enact a strategic bitcoin reserve when Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 21 into law last June, following similar bills in Arizona and New Hampshire.
But unlike those states, Texas established a standalone reserve fund managed by the comptroller's office and funded it with a $10 million position in BlackRock's IBIT bitcoin ETF, an "interim measure before transitioning to direct Bitcoin custody," according to the RFP.
It is unclear which entity currently controls those (IBIT) shares, as they do not appear in any of the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co's 13-F filings for the past year.
The Block reached out to the offices of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts for clarification.
Meanwhile, on the federal level, lawmakers recently introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act, which would codify a national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, require public proof-of-reserve reporting, and lock government-held bitcoin into the reserve for at least 20 years.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
