When I lost spoke with Cynthia Lummis in November 2020, she had just become the first woman elected to represent Wyoming in the U.S. Senate. And she had also just become the most outspoken Bitcoiner ever elected to this office as well.
“Our own currency is by design inflating, by roughly 2% per year, give or take,” she told me at the time. “By design, bitcoin doesn’t do that. So for those of us who are looking for a whole variety of ways to protect ourselves financially, whether it’s in the stock market … or through something that’s going to store value, something that is scarce like bitcoin, you want to have a diverse mix, and I firmly believe that bitcoin belongs in that mix.”
Now, five months into her Senate term, Lummis has had a chance to work with her colleagues to explore how Bitcoin can fit into the nation’s portfolio and future plans.
“We are launching the Financial Innovation Caucus on May 26, and I’m very excited about the strong bipartisan group of senators who have signed onto this caucus,” Lummis said in a recent interview. “Additionally, I’ve had a number of productive and encouraging conversations with the Biden administration’s appointees at the key agencies regulating digital assets like bitcoin. This space is new and uncharted, and my team is working with them as they work to incorporate digital assets into the American financial system.”
For instance, she sponsored an amendment to the “Endless Frontier Act” that added blockchain technology to a list of technology focus priorities for federal strategies.
I think the more research into distributed ledger technology by the United States, the more people will see its incredible potential,” Lummis said. “I only see positives from greater research and understanding here.”
Of course, the first months of Lummis’ term have been marked by the election of Joe Biden, new appointments across the country’s financial regulators and aggressive economic stimulus legislation. Considering that Lummis has long been concerned with dollar inflation, she has had her work cut out for her so far.
“I’m primarily focused on working with the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and others to ensure that any regulations on new kinds of banks and digital assets foster innovation instead of stifling it,” Lummis explained. “I’ve been a long-time opponent of excessive government spending and that has not changed — it was a key reason that I opposed the American Rescue Plan, for example. I will continue to do that while pursuing relationships with the Biden Administration’s appointees at these regulatory agencies.”
Lummis will be taking the stage at the upcoming Bitcoin 2021 conference with Congressional colleague Warren Davidson to discuss these efforts and the future of Bitcoin as it relates to the U.S. government.
“Warren and I worked together in the U.S. House,” Lummis said. “The congressional calendar is very full, and I’m looking forward to having a long overdue and uninterrupted conversation with him about how we can work together to bring the U.S financial system into the 21st century.”
Lastly, I had to follow up with Lummis about a bold proposal that came up in our last conversation: She mentioned that the federal postal employees’ retirement fund should be among the first federal funds to invest in bitcoin.
So, has Lummis made any progress in getting U.S. postal workers on a Bitcoin standard?
“Ha! Right now we are focused on education, but if you look at Florida, there’s a certain mayor down there who wants to allow city workers to receive their salary in bitcoin, which is an innovative place to start,” Lummis responded, referring to Miami Mayor Facis Suarez’s work. “Good state experimentation often leads to federal policy, so we will see where his efforts end up.”
Lummis will expand on her progress so far and future plans for getting her U.S. government colleagues more familiar with Bitcoin during the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami on June 4 and 5. Make sure that you set a reminder for the Bitcoin 2021 day one YouTube live stream and one for the Bitcoin 2021 day two YouTube live stream now.