Senator Cynthia Lummis introduces bill to purchase 1 million Bitcoin

Cynthia Lummis, the Republican Senator for the US state of Wyoming, presented her bill yesterday at the Bitcoin Conference, with which she wants to revalue the US dollar and strengthen the American economy. The proposal provides for the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve would firmly secure the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency into the 21st century and ensure we remain the world leader in financial innovation.
_{Cynthia Lummis in the press release}

Specifically, the U.S. would build a bitcoin position of one million units over five years.

The fact that Cynthia Lummis will present a bill of this kind at the conference was already known days before - Blocktrainer.de reported. However, the self-proclaimed "Bitcoin Senator" only revealed the specific details yesterday.

The 69-year-old presented the "Bitcoin Reserve Bill" at the Bitcoin Conference immediately after Donald Trump's speech, in which the likely next US president announced that he would hold the approximately 210,000 Bitcoin in the USA, which originated from confiscations, as a strategic reserve. Trump also said that the US will never sell Bitcoin again - Blocktrainer.de reported. Lummis wants to build up a significantly larger stock based on the existing Bitcoin.

This Bitcoin reserve that we're going to create will start with the 210,000 Bitcoin that President Trump just mentioned. We're going to put them in a reserve, store them in geographically diverse vaults, and that's just the beginning.
_{Cynthia Lummis at the Bitcoin Conference}

The bill calls for the U.S. to hold one million bitcoin over time, building up a bitcoin position roughly equivalent to the U.S. gold reserves. If the USA were to keep the confiscated Bitcoin until the law potentially comes into force, only less than 800,000 units would have to be acquired.

The Bitcoin should be purchased by the US as part of a diversification of the reserves of the US Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, according to the press release. At the conference, the senator said that the excess reserves of the Federal Reserve banks would be used for the purchases.

We will convert excess reserves at our twelve Federal Reserve banks into Bitcoin within five years. We have the money now.
_{Cynthia Lummis at the Bitcoin conference}

The strategic stockpile will be used to tackle the problem of escalating US national debt and the inflation that comes with it.

It will be held for at least 20 years and can only be used for one purpose: to reduce our debt.
_{Cynthia Lummis at the Bitcoin Conference}

According to Lummis, Bitcoin could cut the US debt burden in half by 2045. She also pledged that Donald Trump's promise not to sell Bitcoin will be kept.

We will be debt-free - because of Bitcoin.
_{Cynthia Lummis at the Bitcoin conference}

As with every bill, the House of Representatives and the Senate must vote in favor of it. Once this has happened, the bill ends up on the President's desk, who can sign it or veto it.

If - as currently looks likely - Donald Trump is elected to the White House in November and the generally Bitcoin-friendly Republicans take the majority in both chambers of Congress, there is a good chance that the "Bitcoin Reserve Bill" will become law.

It will be interesting to see whether the bill receives the necessary support in Congress and whether Donald Trump, who is likely to be the next US president, will back this project.