Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who represents the state in the U.S. Senate, called it a “good idea” for the the Fed to buy Bitcoin. She said this during a discussion organized by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation.
According to the lawmaker, the central bank could allocate a portion of its foreign currency reserves, which are valued at more than $40 billion.
“As soon as the regulatory framework is in place, it will make a lot of sense. The fact that [Bitcoin] is fully decentralised will, over time, make it more widely used. I believe the Fed should hold this asset on its balance sheet“, — Lummis said.
The senator described Bitcoin as digital gold and a “hard currency” due to its capped supply of 21 million coins.
Former Fed vice-chair for supervision Randall Quarles doubted that Lummis’s proposal would gain traction.
For many political and economic reasons, I think this won’t happen. The Fed’s balance sheet should be formed entirely from U.S. government bonds, — Quarles said.
Lummis predicted that traditional banks would integrate Bitcoin and other digital assets into their offerings and create cryptocurrency divisions.
The politician became co-author of the amendment to the infrastructure bill, the initial draft of which faced criticism from the crypto community. In December 2021 she pledged to draft a bill, designed to provide clarity on the regulation of digital assets.
The bill can be logically broken down into roughly five or six standalone parts. We are working with offices across both parties in the Senate to determine who is interested in refining various components, Lummis said.
Back in October 2021, the senator said that Bitcoin and other non-fiat currencies could potentially help Americans and residents of other countries cope with the looming economic crisis.
In August the politician increased her holdings in the first cryptocurrency. She first invested in digital gold in 2013.
Earlier, the senator criticised Hillary Clinton for warnings about cryptocurrencies.
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