Three percent of the Senate in the United States attended the 20201 Texas Blockchain Summit organized on Friday. During the summit, they addressed the understanding of blockchain and crypto to their fellow lawmakers.
According to Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming Senator, compared to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission or the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department of the United States is more threatening to cryptocurrencies and blockchain innovation in the United States. Speaking at the summit in Austin, she added that the reason why they are concerned with the federal agency is the language in the infrastructure bill that is currently in debate in Congress.
Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary, is in support of the legislation which is concerning the brokers of the cryptocurrency. The wording in the bill that was passed in August by the Senate states that brokers will be required to report all their digital asset transactions to the Internal Revenue Service, that are worth over $10,000. Lummis said that the definition in the infrastructure bill suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of digital assets like Bitcoin. Brokers who don’t have any knowledge of their clients will not have the information required for filing the reports.
Ted Cruz, Texas Senator, talked about Bitcoin mining and how it is used for monetizing energy that is created through gas and oil extraction, instead of burning the wasted fuel. He also answered a few questions on the power grid of the state during a severe storm in February. The infrastructure bill was scheduled for a vote before 27th September. However, currently, it’s been entangled with a House proposal of $3.5 trillion between the Democrats and the Republicans.
