The price of bitcoin briefly popped to $106,000 after Sen. Cynthia Lummis — a key proponent of the push for a national bitcoin reserve — teased an upcoming announcement. However, it dropped back down after word spread the announcement was unrelated to the plans for such a reserve.
An hour ago, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, one of the biggest advocates for bitcoin in Washington, posted that "big things are coming" before telling her X followers to stay tuned for 10 A.M. This led to a surging price over speculation that she could be about to announce something major connected to the potential creation of a bitcoin reserve.
However, Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett first posted, "The Senate Banking Committee is set to vote at a 10AM EST markup on @SenLummis becoming chair of the digital assets subcommittee." She said she was unaware of any further news.
The Block has confirmed that this is indeed the news Lummis was referring to, according to a source close with her team. Lummis has still not yet posted about the announcement, even though the time has passed.
Lummis' teased announcement pushed up the bitcoin price by $4,000. Image: The Block's Price Page.
As The Block previously reported, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee is poised to have crypto-friendly Lummis lead its newly created digital asset subcommittee, fulfilling a promise made by its incoming chair. Lummis is set to lead a digital asset subcommittee, which will have members including fellow crypto-friendly lawmakers Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and newly elected Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio).
Lummis, who is set to chair a newly minted digital asset subcommittee with the Senate Banking Committee, has been strongly advocating for the crypto industry for a few years now. She has been honed in on creating a strategic bitcoin reserve and over the summer introduced a draft bill to allow U.S. states to hold bitcoin.
The bill creates a "Bitcoin Purchase Program" that will buy no more than 200,000 bitcoin a year over a five-year period, amounting to 1 million BTC. Lummis also calls for the U.S. Treasury Department to publish quarterly reports and make those public on its website. States can also voluntarily participate in storing bitcoin holdings as part of the reserve, and have to adhere to certain requirements including security protocols.
President Donald Trump has also floated a bitcoin reserve that could include USDC, SOL and XRP, according to a report from the New York Post last week.
One of Lummis' latest focuses in crypto has also been on debanking.
Some in the crypto industry have accused the Biden administration of blocking crypto from banking services, labeling the move "Operation Choke Point 2.0. " This moniker alludes to Operation Choke Point 1.0, a 2013 U.S. Department of Justice Initiative that sought to limit banking services for industries considered high-risk for fraud and money laundering, including payday lenders and firearm dealers.
Federal agencies asserted that they do not discourage financial institutions from working with crypto. In the 2024 Risk Review report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other agencies "continue to emphasize that banking organizations are neither prohibited nor discouraged from providing banking services to customers of any specific class or type."
Last week, Lummis threatened to bring legal action against the FDIC over allegations that the agency was destroying digital asset-related materials.
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