Latest news with #Lummis
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top military generals support national Bitcoin reserve, claims Senator Lummis
U.S. military generals are "big supporters" of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has made the claim. The senator said she has talked to generals who understand that economic power is as important as military power to address aggressors around the world and strongly support a strategic Bitcoin reserve exactly for this reason. Lummis made the remarks while addressing the audience at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas on May 26. Lummis also underlined how China banning Bitcoin mining gave an opportunity to the U.S. to lead the way. A strategic Bitcoin reserve is the ultimate way of securing geopolitical advantage, Lummis said. She stressed that President Donald Trump supports her Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, which mandates the U.S. government to purchase up to 1 million Bitcoin — approximately 5% of the total Bitcoin supply — over five years. Sen. Lummis also highlighted how state-level adoption of Bitcoin is as crucial as federal-level adoption. She added that Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) served as the West Virginia Governor, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) will be the next Tennessee Governor, who shared the stage with Lummis. 'States have always been the incubators of innovation,' Lummis said. While states like Arizona, Texas, and New Hampshire have passed strategic Bitcoin reserve bills this year, 30 states are considering it, she highlighted. Sen. Lummis is one of the loudest pro-crypto political voices in the U.S., who even believes that Bitcoin could address the country's monumental debt of $36 trillion. As per Kraken, Bitcoin was trading at $109,943 at press time, around 2% lower than the record high of $111,970.17 that it hit on May 22. Top military generals support national Bitcoin reserve, claims Senator Lummis first appeared on TheStreet on May 27, 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sen. Lummis on Push for Stablecoin Bill: ‘I Had No Idea How Hard This Was Going to Be'
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The U.S. Senate seems to be getting close to passing its landmark stablecoin bill, the GENIUS Act — a battle its champion Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said has been incredibly hard-fought. 'It has been extremely difficult,' Lummis said during a fireside chat with Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Tuesday. 'I had no idea how hard this was going to be.' Last week, the Senate voted to advance the bill, easily clearing the 60-vote threshold required to kick the bill to its last discussion phase before the final vote to pass it out of the body entirely. An earlier attempt failed on a bipartisan basis after Senate Democrats, led by long-time crypto sceptic Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as several Republicans including Missouri's Josh Hawley and Kentucky's Rand Paul, voted against cloture. Lummis, whose staff (along with that of the bill's co-sponsor, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York)) has played a key role in the behind-the-scenes negotiations to get the GENIUS Act passed, said that she thinks the Senate has reached a final deal. If the bill passes, both Lummis and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), the bill's sponsor, claimed that it would be the first piece of legislation passed out of the Senate Banking Committee in eight years. 'It's taken a tremendous amount of work,' Hagerty said, speaking on a separate panel discussion on Tuesday. Hagerty added that long-time crypto skeptic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the bill's main opponent, made a concerted effort to drag out the proceedings in the hopes of stalling the legislation's progress. Hagerty said that the bill, once passed, would be the most bipartisan piece of legislation to pass through the Senate Banking Committee in over a decade. While the bill's supporters see that as a win, they're also frustrated with the difficulty in getting legislation in general passed through the committee. 'We don't have the muscle memory anymore to legislate. That's our job,' Lummis said. 'It really is very frustrating, very exhausting, and you have to keep your creativity, your sense of humor and your patience about you.' Lummis added that she was 'very hopeful' the Senate could work behind-the-scenes with the House on a market structure bill, noting that the House has the advantage of 'muscle memory' (following its passage of FIT21 last year) over the Senate when it comes to the next hurdle of crypto legislation. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MARA's Fred Thiel Says U.S. Should Start Mining Bitcoin to Fill Strategic Reserve
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) CEO Fred Thiel has an idea for how U.S. President Donald Trump's administration can make good on its promises to build out a strategic bitcoin reserve: start mining. Speaking on a panel at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Thiel said that the U.S. government has many potential ways to generate bitcoin to fill the strategic bitcoin reserve that would adhere to the 'budget-neutral' acquisition strategy laid out in Trump's March executive order, including using excess hydroenergy to mine bitcoin domestically. Though it's been nearly three months since Trump authorized the establishment of a strategic bitcoin reserve, it remains unclear exactly how — and when — the government will take steps to actually begin filling it, a source of evident frustration among a number of speakers at the conference. 'I think it's critical,' Thiel said of acquiring bitcoin for the reserve. 'The U.S. making a statement that we're going to have a strategic reserve is an empty statement unless you start putting stuff into it.' At this point, the reserve is supposed to hold all of the bitcoin that has been sized by the government in civil and criminal forfeitures — estimated to be approximately 200,000 bitcoins. But many in the industry and government, including Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), think that getting the government's existing stockpile of bitcoin into a strategic reserve is merely a first step, to be followed by bigger, more meaningful acquisitions. In March, Lummis re-introduced legislation — the so-called BITCOIN Act of 2025 — aimed at codifying Trump's plans for a strategic bitcoin reserve. Under Lummis' plan, after getting all of the forfeited bitcoin into the reserve, the U.S. government would spend the next two to five years converting a portion of its gold certificates into bitcoin. 'We have enough assets in under performing assets that we can get five percent of the world's bitcoin without spending a single dime,' Lummis said. However, Lummis acknowledged that it's unlikely that any real movement on the BITCOIN Act — or, more broadly, taking any significant steps to fill the strategic reserve with anything other than forfeited assets — will come before Congress works its way through stablecoin and market structure legislation. 'It's going to be a heavier lift than I thought because so many people don't understand bitcoin,' Lummis said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Int'l Business Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Bitcoin Champion Sen Cynthia Lummis Cancels Meeting With Ripple CEO, $XRP Tumbles
Cynthia Lummis Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., reads the draft of the "Bitcoin reserve bill" at Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville. Bitcoin Magazine YouTube | Cynthia Lummis Unveils Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Bill Bitcoin Magazine on YouTube / Screenshot Garlinghouse urged Lummis to reconsider her stance and "be a leader for all of crypto" Bitcoin maximalists slammed the Ripple CEO for criticizing Lummis in public $XRP holders said it appears Lummis doesn't want a level-playing field in the crypto industry Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., has canceled a meeting with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, dashing hopes for a potential shift in dynamics in the long-running power struggle between the Bitcoin and XRP communities. Garlinghouse took to X on Monday to reveal that Lummis, known for championing a national strategic Bitcoin reserve, "canceled a meeting" with him and will not reschedule. Ripple CEO calls out Lummis In his Monday revelation, Garlinghouse said he was heading to the Capitol "to champion sensible pro-crypto legislation around stablecoins and market structure." As he has done in the past, the Ripple leader called for open-mindedness when it comes to politicians dealing with the cryptocurrency industry. He specifically called on Lummis to reconsider her stance. "As a leader in Congress and Senator from one of the most crypto-friendly states (WY), I hope you will reconsider and be a leader for all of crypto," he wrote. Heading to DC to champion sensible pro-crypto legislation around stablecoins and market structure, and I'm very encouraged to see our elected officials look at crypto as it should be – a multichain industry. That said, @SenLummis, as Chair of the Digital Assets Subcommittee,… — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) May 19, 2025 Despite his subtle jab at the Bitcoin-friendly senator, who also chaired the Senate's Digital Assets Subcommittee, Garlinghouse said it was still encouraging to see that some government officials "look at crypto as it should be – a multichain industry." This was hardly the first time Garlinghouse criticized "maximalism," a term used by crypto users to refer to crypto holders who believe a specific digital coin is the only digital asset the world will need in the future. $XRP dips amid news XRP, the world's current fourth-largest crypto asset by market capitalization, retreated Monday after news of the canceled meeting spread across crypto communities. Data from CoinGecko showed that XRP prices plunged as low as $2.30 from trading at around $2.38 earlier in the day. Despite the price dip, XRP remains in the green, climbing by 0.6% in the last 24 hours. Ripple oversees the development of the XRP Ledger, whose native cryptocurrency is XRP. There has been an ongoing war of words between BTC maximalists and the XRP Army, which has often pushed Bitcoin and XRP to trend on social media. $BTC maximalists, $XRP army clash on X On X, where the bitter word war among top crypto communities has triggered questions on unity in the space, another exchange of words emerged from Garlinghouse's revelation. Prominent BTC maximalist Pierre Rochard blasted Garlinghouse for his alleged push for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). "Nobody takes you seriously anymore," the Bitcoin Bond Company CEO said. You ruined your reputation and lost all credibility by pushing for CBDCs and against Bitcoin. Nobody takes you seriously anymore. — Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) May 19, 2025 Chainlink community liaison Zach Rynes said Garlinghouse shouldn't have called out Lummis publicly, saying it doesn't help improve crypto's relationship with politicians. Very weird tweet, if she didn't want to take a private meeting, why call her out publicly? That's not going to help relations, and why offer an even more public livestream discussion? — Zach Rynes | CLG (@ChainLinkGod) May 19, 2025 Other prominent crypto users encouraged Lummis to take up Garlinghouse's offer to discuss the broader crypto space with the Ripple CEO through an X Spaces session. That would be a great X space, @SenLummis! — Vet (@Vet_X0) May 19, 2025 Some also encouraged Lummis to join advocacy groups that provide advice on pro-crypto policies. Others in the XRP community said Lummis may want "an unfair advantage for Bitcoin" since a level-playing field for all crypto firms and projects might threaten the world's most valuable cryptocurrency. Why would @SenLummis cancel a meeting? Perhaps she wants an unfair advantage for Bitcoin. A level playing field is too threatening for Bitcoin, perhaps. — 🪝 (@DarkScarf89) May 19, 2025 @bgarlinghouse's spot on. If the U.S. wants to lead in crypto, open dialogue between the public and private sectors is non-negotiable. Refusing to meet sends the wrong message, and slows real progress. This is a multichain, global industry. Policy needs to reflect that. — JDNomax (@JDNomax) May 19, 2025 The official X handle of the Rowen Exchange agreed that Garlinghouse was right for publicly revealing Lummis's cancelation of the meeting, indicating growing demand for political interest in other crypto coins and companies outside the Bitcoin brand. Thank you for calling this out. This needed to be said — Rowen Exchange (@RowenExchange) May 19, 2025 Lummis has yet to respond to concerns around her supposed favor of BTC and rejection of other crypto projects. © Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ripple CEO alleges Senator Lummis canceled meeting, won't reschedule
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has claimed that Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) — who chairs the Digital Assets Subcommittee — cancelled a meeting with him and won't reschedule. The billionaire CEO, well-known for leading the blockchain and payments firm Ripple, urged Sen. Lummis, as "a leader in Congress and Senator from one of the most crypto-friendly states," to be "a leader for ALL of crypto." He invited Sen. Lummis to join him either virtually or onstage for a conversation to fulfill the Trump administration's goal of making the U.S. the crypto capital of the world. Sen. Lummis is a well-known crypto advocate who introduced the BITCOIN Act to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Ripple CEO also told his followers on X that he was heading to Washington to support the "sensible pro-crypto" stablecoin and market structure legislation. He added that he was very encouraged to see the elected officials look at crypto as a multichain industry, "as it should be." A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is created to maintain a stable value, unlike traditionally volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. It is usually pegged to a traditional currency like the US dollar or a commodity like gold. On Dec. 17, 2024, Ripple also launched its stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD). Note that the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act is expected to be debated in the Senate on May 19. Introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the bill is sponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis, Tim Scott (R-SC), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). The GENIUS bill has faced roadblocks — most notably due to Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), opposing it — owing to President Donald Trump-linked USD1 stablecoin. Ripple has been making news on multiple fronts of late. The firm's ongoing securities violations case faced a shocking turn on May 15 as the court denied its settlement motion. On the other hand, it marked a positive turn of events on May 19 as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched XRP futures. As per Kraken, XRP was trading at $2.37 at the time of writing.
