Capitol Hill is on the cusp of a potentially “landmark day” for cryptocurrency regulation, which has now become a hot topic in U.S. politics.
Conner Brown, managing director at the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) and former counsel for Senator Cynthia Lummis, recently teased “very exciting developments” emerging from Washington, D.C.
Power projection
According to a recent op-ed by Representative Lance Gooden, a sitting member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is rolling out its centralized digital yuan to bypass the U.S.-led financial order while simultaneously stockpiling Bitcoin. According to Gooden, the world’s second-largest economy intends to dominate the sector.
In the report, he stressed that the U.S. “can’t lose the bitcoin race to China.” What is notable is that he has explicitly labeled the flagship cryptocurrency as a “national security asset” and a “tool of power projection.” Such sentiment is now increasingly popular among the Republicans.
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Earlier, U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo revealed that the military has already deployed a live node on the Bitcoin network for operational testing.
During a congressional hearing, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed that there are efforts to leverage Bitcoin in order to secure an advantage against China.
The Pentagon is also exploring how Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm can also be used to bolster America’s cyber defenses.
A victory for developers
The Bitcoin community recently secured a massive legislative victory this week when the highly anticipated CLARITY Act passed out of the Senate Banking Committee with a 15-9 bipartisan vote.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute specifically took note of the inclusion of the BRCA provisions. These legal guardrails protect non-custodial software developers from being classified (and regulated) as money transmitters.
BPI praised the leadership of Coin Center, Peter Van Valkenburgh, and Senator Lummis in ensuring these protections made it into the final committee draft.
Advocates are calling the committee votes an “indisputable win for innovation and the right to code.”
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