Indiana lawmakers have handed laws permitting public retirement and financial savings plans to spend money on bitcoin, crypto and crypto-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with Governor Mike Braun anticipated to signal the invoice, HB 1042, into regulation throughout the subsequent 10 days.
The transfer positions Indiana amongst a rising variety of states contemplating digital property in public funding portfolios.
Underneath the brand new regulation, Indiana’s public retirement boards, deferred compensation committees, and annuity financial savings applications are required, by July 1, 2027, to supply self-directed brokerage accounts that embrace no less than one cryptocurrency funding possibility.
These accounts will give plan contributors the power to pick cryptocurrency investments in accordance with the boards’ established funding pointers, monitor account valuations, and pay administrative charges related to digital asset holdings.
The laws defines cryptocurrency as a digital forex that’s not issued by a government, features as a medium of alternate, and depends on encryption know-how to control issuance, confirm transfers, and stop counterfeiting.
Indiana joins different states which have approved public funds to realize publicity to digital property.
This development has accelerated following President Donald Trump’s directive to create a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, encouraging states and public entities to think about bitcoin and digital property as a part of their long-term funding methods.
Lawmakers say the brand new regulation will give public workers and retirees extra methods to take a position, together with in cryptocurrencies, whereas conserving management over their selections.
Self-directed accounts let contributors handle crypto alongside shares, bonds, and ETFs, with boards setting limits and pointers to scale back danger.
The laws additionally clarifies that retirement boards and deferred compensation committees are liable for overseeing crypto choices, setting charges, and making certain account values mirror market costs.
It standardizes crypto choices throughout state pensions, deferred compensation applications, and annuity accounts, giving Indiana contributors constant entry to digital property.
Bitcoin and crypto ATM ban amid fraud issues
In a separate measure, the Indiana legislature voted to ban the operation of digital forex kiosks, generally often called bitcoin or crypto ATMs, throughout the state. The ban responds to regulation enforcement experiences of rising fraud tied to crypto ATMs.
In Evansville, residents misplaced roughly $400,000 in scams linked to those machines in 2025. Violations of the ban would fall underneath the enforcement authority of the state lawyer normal underneath misleading shopper gross sales legal guidelines.
The prohibition aligns with broader issues about crypto ATM fraud nationwide.
The FBI reported almost 11,000 complaints associated to crypto ATM scams in 2024, marking a 99% improve from the earlier yr, with losses totaling an estimated $240 million within the first half of 2025.
