Pro-crypto senator Cynthia Lummis discloses up-to-$100K BTC purchase

Published at: Oct. 8, 2021

United States Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, has revealed that she purchased Bitcoin (BTC) worth between $50,001 and $100,000 on Aug. 16, according to documents filed on Thursday. 

The disclosure was part of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, which prohibits the use of non-public information for profit. The STOCK Act was signed into law under former President Barack Obama in April 2012 and is designed to combat insider trading.

As CNBC reported, Lummis’ purchase was disclosed outside of the 45-day reporting window stipulated in the law. The reporting delay was due to “a filing error,” a spokesperson said.

Lummis made the purchase less than two weeks after she and other senators attempted to insert a pro-crypto amendment into President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. The bipartisan effort, which was supported by Senators Mark Warner and Kyrsten Sinema, attempted to ease the burden on cryptocurrency tax reporting for miners and wallet providers.

Controversially, Lummis’ amendment failed to make its way into the infrastructure bill that was approved by the Senate on Aug. 10. Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, described the bill as “badly flawed” for imposing an “unworkable” tax reporting mandate on certain crypto companies.

The bill, dubbed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, has yet to be voted on by the House of Representatives due to postponed proceedings, according to the latest update on Oct. 1.

Related: The infrastructure bill is hanging in the balance. What would its enactment mean for crypto?

Lummis’ Bitcoin purchase is hardly surprising given her staunchly pro-crypto stance. As Cointelegraph reported, the Wyoming senator previously expressed interest in buying the dip after Bitcoin’s price flash crashed to below $30,000. Although it’s not entirely clear whether she owned Bitcoin at the time, the senator told Fox News in June: “I’m really excited about it because as soon as it drops a little more, I’m going to buy some more.”

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