Key Insights:
- Senator Cynthia Lummis stated the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is the best thing to strengthen and support the US dollar.
- This comes in response to Elon Musk’s endorsement of Bitcoin over fiat currency.
- Bitcoin price under selling pressure ahead of Jerome Powell’s speech.
Senator Cynthia Lummis on Tuesday told Elon Musk that a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is the best thing to strengthen and support the US dollar. The strategy will also help pay the national debt over the next 20 years.
This comes as Elon Musk mentioned “Bitcoin” for the first time in many years, endorsing BTC instead of fiat currency, such as the US dollar.
Senator Cynthia Spotlights Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to Elon Musk
On October 14, Senator Cynthia Lummis reacted to Elon Musk’s post about Bitcoin outclassing fiat currency, as it is based on energy. Musk slammed the US government for printing US dollars repeatedly amid rising national debt to over $37 trillion.
She highlighted the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to Musk, reasoning out how the US government is embracing Bitcoin through establishing strategic reserves. She claimed it is the best strategy to strengthen the dollar and address the national debt.
“It secures our debt with a hard asset + we can audit it to prove reserves at any time,” she added. Also, Bitcoin’s scarcity could help clear a part of the U.S. debt in the next 20 years.
The U.S. government is spearheading a global push to establish strategic Bitcoin and crypto reserves. Earlier this year, Trump signed executive orders to establish the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the United States Digital Asset Stockpile.
The United States reportedly holds $15 to $20 billion in Bitcoin. Also, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent planned to release data on the U.S. holdings after the government shutdown.
US Government Moves 667 BTC to Internal Wallet
The US government-linked wallet moved more than 667 BTC to a new wallet today, despite the government shutdown. This sparked speculation of readiness towards establishing national strategic reserves.
The U.S. government-linked wallet address transferred 667.624 BTC worth $74.65 million to a new address, according to Arkham data on October 14.
On-chain analyst IT Tech claimed it’s just an internal transfer. The transaction showed the U.S. government sent 15 BTC ($1.68 million) to bc1q5l…zv9tmq.
The remaining 652.62 BTC ($73.11 million) was likely returned to bc1qan…wn62xs, which is also controlled by the U.S. government.
According to on-chain data, the U.S. government holds 197.354K BTC worth more than $22 billion. Earlier, Treasury Secretary Bessent confirmed a plan to not sell Bitcoin, but increase holdings through seized crypto from criminal activity.
Bitcoin Price Ahead of Jerome Powell’s Speech
Bitcoin price recovered some losses to hold above $112,000, but was still down 2% in the last 24 hours. The 24-hour low and high were $110,029 and $116,020, respectively.
Furthermore, trading volume dropped by 20% in the last 24 hours, indicating traders are staying away from the market amid rising volatility ahead of Federal Chair Jerome Powell’s speech.
CoinGlass data showed cautious buying in the derivatives market in the last few hours. At the time of writing, the total BTC futures open interest increased to $73.13 billion, up 0.30% in the last 4 hours.
BTC futures OI on CME increased by more than 1.43% and dropped by 1.80% on Binance. This signals mixed sentiment in the crypto market at the time of writing.