Senator Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming’s crypto-friendly representative, has disclosed that she bought as much as $100,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) on August 16. She revealed this news by filing a periodic transaction on October 7. Per the filing, Lummis purchased BTC worth between $50,000 and $100,000.
At the time of the purchase, BTC was trading between $45,700.32 and $47,998.10. With Lummis previously disclosing that she owned 5 BTC in June, this purchase raised her holdings to the 6-7 BTC range. Reportedly, Lummis started investing in the flagship cryptocurrency as early as 2013 when one token was changing hands at $330.
According to Quiver Quantitative, an alternative data firm that tracks the trading activities of Senators, Lummis’ august BTC purchase is among the first congressional crypto purchases. Before her, Senator Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania Representative, revealed that he had purchased as much as $15,000 of Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and up to $15,000 Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in mid-June.
Lummis delayed filing her disclosure
The Senator disclosed her recent purchase as part of adhering to the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which requires members of Congress to report any purchases or sales of stocks, bonds, and commodities within 45 after the transaction date. This law seeks to prevent members of Congress from acting on any non-public information to make profits.
The STOCK Act exempts assets like mutual funds and T-bills from the 45-day reporting window. Nonetheless, representatives that invest in such assets need to report once a year.
While Lummis filed details of her BTC purchase, the disclosure came a week late. Explaining what caused the delay, a spokesperson at her office said there was a filing error. The spokesperson added that Lummis’ office worked with the Ethics Committee to fix the mistake immediately after discovering it. Seemingly, it was an honest mistake because the issue came to an end without a penalty.
Notably, this is not the first time that Senator Lummis has had issues with disclosing her BTC ownership. In April this year, she filed her annual financial disclosure form but did not include her BTC holdings. She, however, filed an amended disclosure a week later, revealing that she owned BTC worth between $100,000 and $250,000.
Pushing for the mass adoption of BTC
This news comes after Senator Lummis advocated for BTC use in retirement portfolios, saying people should buy and HODL the coin for their retirement. According to her, Congress is flooding the economy with US dollars, debasing its value. She has also helped steer Wyoming the crypto way, a move that has seen the state start setting up a crypto banking system.
Meanwhile, BTC has recovered from its end of September lows, adding approximately $15,000 in less than 10 days. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $54,136.45 after slipping from its 90-day high of $55,922.98, which it set yesterday. Should BTC continue surging, its all-time high (ATH) of $64,863.10 is within reach.
