Senator Cynthia Lummis has introduced groundbreaking legislation aiming to direct the U.S. government to acquire 1 million Bitcoin, worth over $68 billion at current market prices. Announced at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, this proposal is designed to establish Bitcoin as a strategic reserve to stabilize the dollar and combat inflation, akin to the strategic petroleum reserve.
Lummis’s plan is to have the U.S. Treasury purchase Bitcoin over a five-year period, with the assets held in self-custody across various locations. These Bitcoin reserves would be utilized exclusively to pay down the national debt and must be held for at least 20 years. This bold move reflects Lummis’s belief that Bitcoin could transform the U.S. economic landscape by addressing issues related to national debt and inflation.
Her proposal follows former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of a U.S. Bitcoin reserve and the call from independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for acquiring 500 bitcoins daily. While Lummis acknowledges that her bill might not pass before the 2024 elections, she views the increasing political interest in Bitcoin as a sign of a significant shift towards recognizing Bitcoin as a serious economic asset.
