Key takeaways:
- Although this year is an election year in the US, politicians have always used hot-button subjects to deflect criticism from the media.
- On June 25, Gaetz presented a measure that would mandate that American residents submitting their federal income taxes use Bitcoin to make payments to the IRS.
Although this year is an election year in the US, politicians have always used hot-button subjects to deflect criticism from the media.
It appears that some American lawmakers are using crypto as one of the newest tools to “wag the dog” about information that might hurt them when voters cast their ballots in November.
Republicans may choose to publicly oppose the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or link crypto such as Bitcoin to financial independence.
Democrats may decide to split from many other members of the party and support digital assets, or they may opt to link crypto transactions to the funding of terrorism.
The US House of Representatives Committee on Ethics announced on June 18 that Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida would be the subject of an investigation into possible obstruction relating to claims of “sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.”
Gaetz has previously supported laws like the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act that support the regulation of crypto. He has, however, hardly ever made public remarks implying that digital assets were essential to his job as a legislator.
On June 25, Gaetz presented a measure that would mandate that American residents submitting their federal income taxes use Bitcoin to make payments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Claiming to have wished to “modernize” the US tax system, the Florida senator said that the legislation was the outcome of his visit to El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele’s inauguration.
In August, Gaetz’s opponent in the Republican primary for reelection in 2024 will be fellow Republican Aaron Dimmock; in the general election, he might face Democratic contender Gay Valimont. It didn’t seem as if Dimmock or Valimont had a strong stance in favor of or against crypto.
Former US President Donald Trump began reversing his earlier remarks about crypto and blockchain in 2022. Shortly after making his reelection campaign public, Trump introduced a non-fungible token offering.
Although Trump mentioned Bitcoin in passing while defending himself against possible rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023, he really started integrating the technology into his campaign in 2024 as a result of several well-publicized criminal and civil actions.
