3 US senators and 5 congressmen hold bitcoins despite increasing opposition to the digital currency.

With inflation high, many Americans are asking questions on how to preserve the value of the money in their possessions. Bitcoin could come to the rescue but it is not recognized by the US government as a legal tender. The implication of this is that people cannot use the digital currency for everyday monetary transactions without being subjected to capital gain taxes.

Pro-Bitcoin Lawmakers

While some US politicians are pro-Bitcoin, many are against the use of the digital currency and there are even others that see cryptocurrencies such as BTC as a threat to the USD that must be stopped.

Presently, 3 sitting senators and 5 members of the US House are holders of bitcoin. The senators that hold bitcoins are Ted Cruz (R-TX) whose disclosure filings show that he has been holding bitcoins since 2022, Cynthia Lummin (R-WY) who has held bitcoins since 2020 and Patrick Toomey (R-PA), holding bitcoins since 2021.

Three Sitting U.S. Senators hold #Bitcoin!!!

97 are in denial and #NGMI.

— Plan “B”azinga⚡️🚀 (@Eltoro8888) February 15, 2022

The members of the House who are holders of bitcoin include Barry Moore (R-AL), since 2020, Marie Newman (D-IL) holding since 2021, Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ) holding since 2020, Michael Walz, (R-FL), holding since 2021, Michael McCaul (R-TX), holding since 2021.

The Anti-Bitcoin Stance of Some in Government

Despite the minority in support of BTC, there are many reasons why many in government is anti-Bitcoin. The digital currency gives the user a sort of liberty that the citizens have not had in hundreds of years.

The recognition of Bitcoin as a legal tender in a country like the United States would make the citizens an insurance against monetary control by the government. This means that they wouldn’t be able to freeze the accounts of people who have contravened financial laws or even that of criminals.

The reason for this is that the Bitcoin accounts are controlled by the owner through private keys that they hold exclusively. Law enforcement agents would have to access these keys before they could seize the funds of suspected criminals.

Even though this is not extremely difficult, there could be barriers to accomplishing this, especially if the owner is outside the US and in a country that is hostile to the US policy.

Also, the issue of privacy coins complicates issues since it is extremely difficult to track transactions made on their blockchain. Some of these coins include Monero, Bytecoin, Dash and a number of others.

For now, Bitcoin is working and there are many that are aware of it, even though many others are not aware that they have options.