Indiana has passed one of the most significant pieces of crypto legislation in the United States in 2026. House Bill 1042, now sitting on Governor Mike Braun’s desk awaiting his signature, would open Indiana’s public retirement funds to Bitcoin and spot crypto ETFs — while simultaneously banning crypto ATMs statewide. It is a fascinating piece of legislation that says something important about where America is heading with Bitcoin.
What HB 1042 Actually Does
The bill has two distinct parts that tell very different stories about how lawmakers view cryptocurrency.
The first and most bullish part: Indiana’s public retirement and savings plans would be required to offer a self-directed brokerage account that includes at least one cryptocurrency investment option. This covers a wide range of public employees — the Legislators’ Defined Contribution Retirement Plan, the Hoosier START College Savings Plan, public employees under the state’s main retirement fund, and teachers covered by the Teachers’ Retirement Fund.
Indiana’s Public Retirement System currently manages over $55 billion in assets. That is a significant pool of capital being opened to Bitcoin exposure.
It is important to be precise about what the bill does and does not do. The state is not directly allocating pension funds into Bitcoin. What changes is that individual participants in these plans can choose their own exposure through a self-directed brokerage window. Workers who want Bitcoin in their retirement account can have it. Those who prefer to stick with index funds can do exactly that. The choice remains entirely with the individual.
The second part of the bill tells a more cautious story. Indiana simultaneously voted to ban crypto ATMs statewide after law enforcement raised concerns about escalating fraud. Authorities in Evansville alone reported roughly $400,000 in scams connected to crypto kiosks in 2025. Violations would be treated as deceptive consumer sales acts, enforceable by the state attorney general, with courts empowered to order forfeiture of the machines and funds.
Two pieces of crypto legislation passing on the same day — one opening Bitcoin to pension savers, one shutting down crypto ATMs — captures exactly where institutional America stands right now. Bitcoin as a regulated financial asset: welcome. Bitcoin as an unmonitored cash machine used by scammers: not welcome.
Why This Matters Beyond Indiana
Indiana is not operating in isolation. It is the latest state to join a rapidly expanding movement reshaping how American retirement savings interact with digital assets.
At least 21 states are now either investing in or actively evaluating Bitcoin and digital assets for public funds. Arizona, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Nebraska have already signed legislation opening certain public funds to cryptocurrency purchases. North Carolina’s retirement system began investing pension funds in crypto in late 2025. Missouri is advancing its own Bitcoin strategic reserve bill.
This movement aligns directly with the Trump administration’s stated goal of making the United States the “crypto capital of the world.” Federal policy signals have given state legislatures the confidence to move quickly, and the passage of Bitcoin spot ETFs by the SEC has given them a regulated vehicle to point to.
If Governor Braun signs HB 1042 — which is widely expected given the bill passed 59 votes to 33 with bipartisan support — the law takes effect July 1, 2026. By the second half of this year, Indiana teachers, firefighters, police officers, and state employees could be allocating a portion of their retirement savings to Bitcoin through a state-sanctioned brokerage account.
The Bitcoin Maximalist Perspective
From a Bitcoin maximalist standpoint, the significance of HB 1042 is not the immediate capital inflow. Indiana’s pension allocation to Bitcoin will likely start small — cautious participation rates, conservative position sizes, slow rollout as administrators set up the brokerage infrastructure.
The significance is the precedent.
When a state government formally mandates that its retirement system must offer Bitcoin as an investment option, it permanently changes the conversation. Bitcoin is no longer being tolerated by the system — it is being integrated into the system. Pensioners in Indiana will open their retirement account dashboard and see Bitcoin alongside the S&P 500 index fund and the bond allocation. That normalization is irreversible.
The supply side of the Bitcoin equation never changes. 21 million coins. Fixed forever. What changes is how many large, slow-moving pools of institutional capital can now access it through regulated channels. Each state bill that passes is another door opening. Each door that opens increases the flow of capital chasing a fixed supply.
Indiana today. Another state next month. The math is simple.
What Happens Next
Governor Braun has 7 days to sign or veto HB 1042. Following that, pension administrators across Indiana enter an implementation phase — selecting custody and trading vendors, building brokerage infrastructure, integrating with existing pension systems, and rolling out participant education.
The full functionality is not expected until mid-2026 at the earliest. Early participation rates will be modest. But by the end of 2026, Indiana will have real-world data on how public employees use voluntary Bitcoin allocations within a state retirement framework — data that every other state will be watching closely.
For Bitcoin, the long game continues. One state at a time.
