US Lawmaker Likes Bitcoin — Urges Policymakers to Embrace Innovation in Regulation
U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry is pro-bitcoin. He is now hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper on his official congressional website and has called on other lawmakers to embrace innovation like Bitcoin. He believes that the cryptocurrency is unstoppable and governments cannot kill it.
Pro-Bitcoin US Lawmakers
A growing number of U.S. lawmakers have recently spoken in support of Bitcoin. Among them is Congressman Patrick McHenry from the state of North Carolina. On Friday, he talked on CNBC’s Squawk Box about how to approach regulation after last week’s market swings. “You can’t put technology back in the box. Innovation is here. We have to embrace. We have to broaden access to our markets, we have to broaden access to our financial products,” he said.
McHenry has long been a Bitcoin advocate. Last week, when the lawyer of the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, threatened to sue a few website owners for hosting the open-source Bitcoin whitepaper on their websites, McHenry uploaded the document onto his official congressional website. He then tweeted:
Policymakers should be on the side of innovation and ingenuity, which are vital to American competitiveness. I hope others in US govt join me. #Bitcoin
Another pro-Bitcoin U.S. politician is Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. He uploaded the Bitcoin whitepaper onto the Miami city website following the Craig Wright lawsuit threat. “The city of Miami believes in Bitcoin and I’m working day and night to turn Miami into a hub for crypto innovation. Proud to say Miami is the first municipal government to host Satoshi’s White Paper on government site,” Suarez wrote Wednesday.
Praising Suarez’s efforts in promoting Bitcoin and innovation, McHenry replied: “Impressed by what you are doing in Miami, Mayor Francis Suarez. I hope more policymakers will join us to support American innovation.”
Earlier this month, Suarez discussed putting some of Miami city’s treasury reserves in BTC and said he is working to allow payments of city services in the cryptocurrency.
McHenry has said that bitcoin is unstoppable and governments should not attempt to ban it. “The world that Satoshi Nakamoto, author of the Bitcoin whitepaper, envisioned and others are building is an unstoppable force,” he said during a hearing of the Committee on Financial Services in July 2019. “We should not attempt to deter this innovation, and governments cannot stop this innovation and those that have tried have already failed.” McHenry additionally emphasized: “Due to the nature of the technology of Bitcoin, governments cannot kill it, nor should they.”
Last week, McHenry commented on Joe Biden’s pick for the new chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler. He believes that the MIT blockchain professor’s receptiveness to new financial technologies and cryptocurrency is positive.
The U.S. Senate also has a vocal bitcoin advocate. Sen. Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming has vowed to help her colleagues in Congress understand that bitcoin is a great store of value.
