Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS
- Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis told the What Bitcoin Did podcast that bitcoin is a better store of value than paper money and she plans to teach Congress how to use it to reduce the national debt when she assumes office in January.
- “If we reach the point where we have overspent so much that things start crashing down, the black swan event occurs with any regard to any fiat currency…there is a backstop available to every government in the world and that backstop is bitcoin,” Lummis said.
- The senator-elect also said that bitcoin is a better store of value than paper money because the cryptocurrency’s supply is finite.
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Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis plans to broaden the coversation in Congress around bitcoin when she assumes office in January.
On an episode of the What Bitcoin Did podcast on Monday, the Wyoming Republican said bitcoin is a great store of value and can help tackle one of her biggest concerns-the US national debt.
Lummis said the US needs to develop a plan to retire the debt, and also needs to develop an “alternative path” in case that fails.
“I see the alternative half as bitcoin, because you have the ability to invest in something that has stability in the store of value,” Lummis said.
The senator-elect said that bitcoin is a better store of value than paper money because its supply is finite. Currently there are only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined in total.
“In the case of U.S. currency, inflation is baked into the Federal Reserve’s plan for the U.S. dollar. So it’s no wonder that our buying power is eroded,” Lummis said. People who are living off their savings in retirement have constantly eroding buying power because of inflation, she added.
“That will not be the case with bitcoin. Bitcoin provides a more stable value to people who are either saving now to live comfortably in the future but also people who are on fixed income or approaching fixed income now,” the senator-elect said.
Lummis added that she wants to use her time as an elected official to introduce the topic of bitcoin to her colleagues in Congress and develop a path for the cryptocurrency to develop alongside fiat money, because she sees it as a great store of value and a “stabilizing mechanism for worldwide exchanges.”
“It’s kind of something that frees governments up to say, there is a backstop,” said Lummis. “If we reach the point where we have overspent so much that things start crashing down, the black swan event occurs with any regard to any fiat currency…there is a backstop available to every government in the world and that backstop is bitcoin.”
The price of bitcoin is approaching record highs, and is currently priced at $19,363. But Lummis isn’t planning on selling her bitcoin any time soon.
“I am a HODLer,” she admitted.