Cato Institute Director Skeptical of Proposal to Purchase 1 Million BTC with Fed's Excess Reserves

IconCryptoNewsTerminal Staff29 Jul, 2024

cryptonews.jpg

Cato Institute Director Skeptical of Proposal to Purchase 1 Million BTC with Fed's Excess Reserves

George Selgin, Senior Fellow at the Monetary Alternatives Program at the Cato Institute, has expressed skepticism about US Senator Cynthia Lummis' proposal to purchase 1 million BTC over five years as part of a national BTC strategy. Selgin said that Lummis' statement that the BTC purchase would be made with the Fed's excess reserves "has nothing to do with bank reserves" and that "the gist of the bill is to have the Treasury buy a million bitcoins (currently worth about $64 billion) at the current market price." He added: "The Treasury could finance the purchase of a million bitcoins at current market prices by issuing notes backed by its gold holdings, but building up such a reserve would threaten the stability of commercial banks. I would much rather see Treasury sell gold to pay down debt directly or invest the proceeds elsewhere than have it acquire bitcoin."

Related News