Bitcoin cleans up the environment and helps catch criminals: US Senator Cynthia Lummis

US Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming held a fireside chat with Chamber of Digital Commerce founder and CEO Perianne Boring at the Bitcoin 2023 event in Miami on May 19.

Topics of discussion included Bitcoin’s importance to U.S. national and energy security, and upcoming legislation surrounding cryptocurrency, blockchain, and related technologies.

Lummis described regulating Bitcoin and related technologies as a national security issue. She believed that the US government had been irresponsible with its debt and positioned Bitcoin as a decentralized safety net for citizens:

“I’m actually worried, now that we’re having another debt ceiling debate, that we’ll eventually raise the debt ceiling to the point where our interest payments will exceed how much money we spend on national defense. So it is a matter of national security.”

The senator made it clear that it was her belief that the current challenges surrounding Bitcoin-friendly bill passing had more to do with what she perceived as ignorance or a lack of education than concerns based on reality.

While addressing the audience at large, Lummis joked, “Although you all know that when FTX failed they had zero Bitcoin, there are many people in Washington DC who combine businesses with digital assets, they confuse Bitcoin with other cryptocurrencies.”

Senator Lummis, along with junior New York Senator Kristen Gillibrand, hope that a bill they have drafted as a comprehensive cryptocurrency legislative measure 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 regarding stablecoins fares before introducing their own bill.

Lummis seemed optimistic about the bill’s chances, citing as a major factor the facts that Senator Gillibrand served on the Senate committee overseeing the CFTC, while she herself served on the committee overseeing the SEC.

Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of Chamber of Digital Commerce, shifted the conversation to mining, pointing out that her company’s membership accounted for more than 50% of the Bitcoin hashrate in the US and that many of her clients were concerned about the proposed 30% mining tax recently floated by the White House.

While stating the tax-requested boos, Senator Lummis turned the mockery into cheers by simply responding with “Well, I want to start by saying that’s not going to happen.” She then reiterated that several members of Congress worked diligently with the digital asset community to ensure fair regulation followed.

Citing the further importance of proper regulation, Lummis again described the issue as one of national security, this time adding that it was also imperative for the environment that we leverage the Bitcoin mining process:

“One of the benefits of mining Bitcoin is that when you drill an oil and gas well, and it is far from other oil and gas wells, you release the gas into the atmosphere until you can bring in a pipeline to connect it. Close. … Well, while that’s being vented, you can pull a Bitcoin mining operation into a trailer, use the vented methane gas to mine your Bitcoin, and prevent that gas from venting into the atmosphere.

The senator added “Bitcoin cleans up the environment” to further cheers from the public. She also said Bitcoin mining could be used as a tool to stabilize the energy grid, stating that mining activity could be increased or decreased to ensure proper energy distribution.

In explaining why the US government has been reluctant to push Bitcoin technologies, Lummis pointed to the congressional perception that “Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are being 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 explains, adding “but there are still people who just don’t believe that.” She went on to explain that pushing Bitcoin and related technological innovations, such as mining operations abroad, would erode US law enforcement’s ability to operate in an increasingly digital world.

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