The short version
- New Hampshire's Executive Council voted three-to-two to reject a proposed one hundred million dollar municipal bond project.
- The bond was designed to fund acquisitions for CleanSpark with zero direct financial risk to state taxpayers.
- The council turned down the project due to political caution and the novelty of using cryptocurrency as collateral.
- While global cryptocurrency funds experienced outflows, local political concerns drove the decision to scrap the project.
A Close Vote Stops the Bond Project
On July 8, 2026, a special five-member group called the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to stop a new financial project. In a tight three-to-two vote, the council decided not to move forward with a plan to issue up to one hundred million dollars in bonds. This decision surprised many people because the state's governor, Kelly Ayotte, had supported the idea before the vote.
Three councilors, Karen Liot Hill, Dave Wheeler, and Janet Stevens, voted against the project. Two other councilors, Joseph Kenney and John Stephen, voted to approve it. The group rejected the plan because they felt uneasy about using cryptocurrency as security for public debt. They also worried about how this new type of deal might affect the state's long-term financial reputation.
Even though some early news stories linked this vote to recent drops in global cryptocurrency funds, the official meeting records show a different story. The councilors based their choice on local political concerns and the sheer novelty of the plan. They did not reject the bond because of global market trends or recent outflows from exchange-traded funds.
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Understanding the Debt and Collateral Rules
The proposed deal was structured as a conduit municipal bond. This means the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority would issue the bonds on behalf of a private borrower. This borrower was the NH CleanSpark Borrower Trust, which is tied to a Bitcoin mining firm called CleanSpark. Because of this setup, the state and its taxpayers faced zero direct financial risk or repayment liability.
To get the money, CleanSpark agreed to provide collateral. The firm planned to deposit between one hundred and sixty million and one hundred and seventy-five million dollars in Bitcoin. A company called BitGo Trust Company would hold this asset in safe, offline storage. This structure meant that the bond had more than one and a half times the loan value in backup collateral.
The deal also included safety rules to protect investors who bought the bonds. If the value of the Bitcoin collateral dropped too low, an automatic sell trigger would start. This trigger would activate if the collateral value fell to one point four times the loan amount. At that point, the custodian would sell the Bitcoin to pay back the bondholders before any more value was lost.
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Credit Ratings and Price Targets
Before the vote, the bond project received official attention from major financial rating firms. On March 31, 2026, Moody's Ratings gave the proposed bonds a provisional Ba2 rating. This rating is considered speculative-grade, which means it carries some risk. Two financial firms, Wave Digital Assets and Rosemawr Management, worked together with the state authority to design this unique bond structure.
At the same time, Bitcoin was trading near sixty-three thousand two hundred dollars on July 9, 2026. This price level came during a period of global tension, especially in the Middle East. Despite these worries, some big Wall Street firms remained optimistic about the future. Both Bernstein and Standard Chartered kept their price targets for Bitcoin at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the end of 2026.
These high price forecasts show that some institutional investors still see long-term potential in cryptocurrency. They view the asset as a possible hedge against the falling value of paper currencies. However, these positive predictions from Wall Street did not convince the New Hampshire councilors. The local politicians remained focused on the risks of approving such an unusual financial tool for the first time.
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Tracking Funds and Mining Developments
The global cryptocurrency market experienced some big changes in the weeks leading up to the vote. In June 2026, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw net outflows of about four billion dollars. Although these funds recovered slightly with five hundred and ten million dollars in new money during the first week of July, many investors remained careful about where they put their cash.
In other parts of the world, different stories showed the mixed state of the cryptocurrency industry. Police in Thailand recently shut down an illegal mining operation that stole electricity to run its hardware. At the same time, a legitimate mining services company called BitFuFu gained positive attention. The firm was named as one of the world's fast-growing business leaders by TIME and Statista.
Meanwhile, in Russia, the largest private lender, Alfa Bank, began testing cryptocurrency trading on its platform. This shows that some foreign banks are moving ahead with digital assets even as Western governments stay cautious. These global events show that while some areas are growing quickly, others face strict crackdowns or careful political reviews that slow down new projects.
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New Hampshire Rejects the Pioneering Bitcoin Bond
The decision by the New Hampshire Executive Council brings a sudden end to what would have been a historic bond project. Even though the plan did not risk taxpayer money, the councilors chose to walk away from the deal. Their vote highlights how difficult it is for cryptocurrency projects to win approval from local government officials who prefer traditional finance.
The rejection shows a clear divide between optimistic Wall Street firms and cautious public officials. While investment banks look at high price targets and long-term trends, local politicians worry about immediate risks and public trust. This local decision proves that global market flows and high-profile endorsements cannot guarantee the success of new financial ideas in state government.
For now, the first-of-its-kind bond project is dead, leaving other states to watch and learn from New Hampshire's experience. CleanSpark and its partners must look for other ways to fund their mining work without the help of municipal bonds. The market will continue to watch how other governments balance the promise of new technology with the safety of traditional public finance.