Dan Patrick Found a New Piggy Bank for Crypto

Texas families keep asking for practical government: funded schools, safer roads, lower bills, and leaders who know the difference between a kitchen-table problem and a press-release hobby.

The 89th Legislature gave them Senate Bill 21 instead: a bill officially captioned as "relating to the establishment and administration of the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the purpose of investing in cryptocurrency and the investment authority of the comptroller of public accounts over the reserve and certain other state funds." It was signed by the governor on June 20, 2025.

That is not a parody sentence. That is the receipt.

The casino gets a seal

SB 21 does not say Texas needs better public schools first. It does not say rural hospitals, grid reliability, teacher pay, or property-tax pressure should get the headline treatment.

It creates a state-level Bitcoin reserve and gives the comptroller investment authority over the reserve and certain other state funds.

Maybe that sounds futuristic if you say it fast enough. But Texans do not need Austin politicians treating public money like a venture-capital mood board.

What happened to conservative basics?

Dan Patrick's brand is supposed to be discipline, caution, and old-school fiscal seriousness. Yet the state government he helps run found time for a strategic cryptocurrency reserve.

If a county commissioner proposed gambling local funds on whatever asset had the loudest online fan club, Patrick-world would call it reckless before lunch.

When Austin does it, suddenly it is strategy.

Texas can do boring better

Good government does not have to be flashy. It has to be useful.

Texas needs leaders who focus on classrooms, roads, local services, and family budgets before chasing speculative trophies. Vikki Goodwin is running for Lieutenant Governor with a public-school-first message. That is a better use of political attention than turning state finance into a crypto brochure.