Senator Lummis introduces BITCOIN bill, but don’t get excited just yet

• Senator Lummis officially introduced a bill to establish a U.S. strategic BTC reserve. 
• The fate of the bill remains unknown, as analyst claimed low odds of passing the U.S. Senate. 

US senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming went beyond political rhetoric and introduced a bill, setting the first step toward actualizing the strategic Bitcoin reserve. 

The senator promised the same action during the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville in a bid to pay the national debt and ‘supercharge the US dollar.’ 

Part of her statement on the action read, 

“As families across Wyoming struggle to keep up with soaring inflation rates and our national debt reaches new and unprecedented heights, it is time for us to take bold steps to create a brighter future for generations to come by creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Will the BITCOIN Act bill pass the U.S. Senate?

Interestingly, the bill is called the BITCOIN Act, which stands for Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide. 

The Act will advance self-custody rights for private Bitcoin holders and create BTC vaults operated by the US Treasury Department. It also paves the pathway for states to acquire and hold BTC. 

Most importantly, the bill aims to ensure the US has similar BTC holdings to gold, which means 1 million BTC to hit the digital asset’s 5% overall supply. 

Senate votes must reach a certain threshold for the bill to pass. So far, the Bitcoin policy advocacy group, Satoshi Action Fund, has urged US citizens to nudge their respective senators to support the bill to make it a reality. 

However, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart claimed that the bill’s chances of passing through the Senate were ‘quite low.’ 

“Quite low, according to people I know with a far better understanding of DC-related topics.”

That might be hurtful, especially for BTC Maxis, who hope the US government move could trigger game theory and a race among nations to accumulate BTC. 

However, some market analysts are against the US Strategic BTC Reserve (SBR), citing likely interference from the government in the sector. Jim Bianco of Bianco Research submitted one such contrarian take. He noted, 

“All government reserves, whether the dollar, oil, cheese, or even cars (remember “cash for clunkers”), usually cause more harm than good. Why would Government interference in Bitcoin via a “reserve” be any different?”

Financial market commentator John Authers made a similar contrarian view and claimed that Trump’s plan could end BTC’s “anarchic vision.”

Trump had promised to establish the US Bitcoin Reserve and fire Gary Gensler if elected in the November elections. However, before we go beyond November, the fate of the current BITCOIN Act remains unknown.