BitGo named custodian for New Hampshire’s $100M Bitcoin bonds

The New Hampshire Business Finance Authority, a quasi-public state agency, plans to issue $100 million of bonds backed by Bitcoin. Moody’s Investors Service assigned a provisional Ba2 rating in a recent statement. The deal will be sold in two classes with a combined initial balance of $100 million; individual class sizes will be set later. The bonds are structured as limited recourse obligations, payable only from proceeds of the Bitcoin collateral and not from public funds.

The securities are backed by a loan secured by Bitcoin. BitGo has been appointed as custodian to hold the collateral in segregated wallets and as liquidation agent to sell Bitcoin to fund interest and principal payments. The structure includes regular tests of the collateral’s market value and protections that require bond redemptions if the loan-to-value ratio falls beyond set levels.

Initial collateral coverage is set at 1.60x, with a loan-to-value trigger at 1.40x, levels the rating agency described as consistent with the Ba2 target. A launch date for the bonds has not been disclosed.

In its statement, Moody’s cited “all relevant risks, particularly those associated with the transaction’s collateral, structure and operation risks of various service providers.”

The planned issuance comes as U.S. public entities assess ways to use digital assets. On March 30, the Labor Department proposed a rule that would allow cryptocurrencies in 401(k) retirement plans, describing it as a response to an executive order from President Donald Trump.