Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis chatted with Chamber of Digital Commerce Founder and CEO Perianne Boring during the Bitcoin 2023 event in Miami on May 19.
Topics of discussion were the importance of Bitcoin to the national and energy security of the United States and upcoming legislation around cryptocurrency, blockchain and related technologies.
Lummis described the regulation of Bitcoin and related technologies as a matter of national security. He opined that the US government had been irresponsible with its debt and positioned Bitcoin as a decentralized safety net for citizens:
“Actually, I’m concerned that by getting into another debt ceiling debate, we’ll end up raising it to the point where our interest payments exceed the money we spend on national defense. So it’s a national security issue.”
The senator made it clear that, in her opinion, the problems currently surrounding the passage of pro-Bitcoin bills have more to do with what she perceives as ignorance or lack of education than with concerns based on reality.
Addressing the entire audience, Lummis quipped: “Even though you all know that when FTX failed, you had zero Bitcoin, there are a lot of people in Washington DC who confuse companies with digital assets, they confuse Bitcoin with other cryptocurrencies.”
Lummis hopes that a bill that she and New York Junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have drafted as a comprehensive cryptocurrency piece of legislation will serve as a catalyst for positive change. However, according to Lummis, the two senators are waiting to see how a bill introduced in the House of Representatives related to stablecoins works before introducing their own.
Lummis was optimistic about the bill’s chances, citing as a significant factor the fact that Gillibrand served on the Senate committee that oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while she herself was a member of the committee that oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Boring, founder and CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, steered the conversation to mining, noting that members of her company accounted for more than 50% of the US Bitcoin hash rate and that many of her clients were concerned about the 30% tax recently proposed by the White House.
Although the mention of the tax drew boos, Lummis turned the boos into applause by responding simply, “Well, I want to start by saying that’s not going to happen.” He went on to reiterate that various members of Congress were working diligently with the digital asset community to ensure fair regulation.
Citing the importance of proper regulation, Lummis again qualified the issue of national security, adding this time that it was also an environmental imperative for the country to control the Bitcoin mining process:
“One of the advantages of mining Bitcoin is that when you drill an oil and gas well, and it’s remote from other oil and gas wells, you vent the gas into the atmosphere until a pipeline can be brought in to connect it. […] Well, while that’s venting, you can run a Bitcoin mining operation in a trailer, use the vented methane gas to mine your Bitcoin, and you’re preventing that gas from venting into the atmosphere.”
The senator added: “Bitcoin is cleaning up the environment,” which drew more applause from the audience. She also mentioned that Bitcoin mining can be used as a tool to stabilize the energy grid, stating that mining operations could be scaled up or down to ensure proper power distribution.
Explaining why the US government had been reluctant to push Bitcoin technologies forward, Lummis pointed to the perception in Congress that “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are used for criminal activity.”
“We have tried to educate members of Congress that companies like Chainalysis can actually solve crimes more easily with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies than with US dollars,” Lummis explained, adding: “But there are still people who just don’t believe it.” He went on to explain that kicking out Bitcoin and related technological innovations, such as offshore mining operations, would erode the ability of US law enforcement to operate in an increasingly digital world.
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