As a reminder, there are indeed enough cryptocurrency aficionados in the US government. For example, in December 2021, we learned that at least five congressional representatives managed to invest in digital assets. The record holder among them was politician Jeff Van Drew, whose coin investments were limited to $250,000. You can read more about the list at the link.


Among cryptocurrency holders was also the already mentioned Cynthia Lummis. She has been a long-time supporter of coins and actively invests in them, and for quite large sums. This has raised questions among some people about a possible conflict of interest for Lummis, as she is also a lawmaker. In response, the politician commented on the topic.

Who invests in cryptocurrencies?

According to Lummis herself, there is no conflict of interest in her political career and support for the cryptosphere. Here’s one of her quotes from a recent interview published by journalists at news outlet Decrypt

Well, I own cows too, and cows are a commodity. Bitcoin is also a commodity. Do I have to sell my cows because they are a commodity, since I am now on a banking committee, which may have something to do with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission? Or if there may be laws in Congress that affect the marketing or ownership of cattle?

US Senator Cynthia Lummis

According to the US Senate Select Committee on Ethics, the answer to the question above is unequivocal – no. However, it does require senators to “report any purchase, sale or exchange of any shares, bonds, commodity futures or other securities if the amount of the transaction exceeds the equivalent of thousands of dollars”, according to the body’s 2021 guidelines. And just to be clear, commodities and commodity futures are different things. The former are real physical objects, while the latter are financial agreements to buy those same physical objects at a later date at a predetermined price.

On topic: the European Parliament has approved restrictions on the use of independent cryptocurrencies. What does it mean?

In terms of cryptocurrencies, members of the government must disclose the coins or tokens they own. As a candidate for senator in 2020, Lummis reported owning between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of BTC. In August 2021, she reported additional bitcoin purchases of a similar amount. In addition, she has not stated any income from the sale of these assets, which hints at her commitment to holla, i.e. long-term investments in digital assets.

Now, however, the senator is drafting the Responsible Financial Innovation Act to provide tax guidelines for capital gains from bitcoin mining, steaking and other crypto activities.

Cryptocurrencies

Here’s another quote from Lummis about her BTC savings.

I bought my first three bitcoins at $330 each. So I had an investment of about a thousand dollars. Now the market has grown to $1.8 trillion, with up to 18,000 different cryptocurrencies. So it is a very big industry. And I am just a grain of sand in it.

Nevertheless, the crux of the problem is that many people see Bitcoin specifically as an investment. That may be true, but regulators don't always treat BTC as a financial investment. For example, in 2019, then-US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Jay Clayton said that Bitcoin is not a security. Consequently, crypto is not an investment contract from which an investor expects to make a profit.

Former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton

Then and even now, because of the US government’s de facto non-recognition of the scale of the crypto market, local senators can de facto own crypto and lobby crypto interests in their seats quite legally. So let’s hope the Lummis bills serve to benefit the development of Bitcoin.


We believe there is no problem with Cynthia Lummis' cryptocurrency investments. As an example, members of the world's parliaments in general pass government budgets and other important bills. Obviously, by analogy, one could ask about their interests, since all MPs use money - but clearly no one will do that. So the novelty of Bitcoin cannot be considered a reason for politicians not to mess with it.


Stay tuned to our millionaires’ cryptochat. There we will discuss other important stories from the blockchain world.