Ted Cruz wants merchants on Capitol Hill to accept cryptocurrency payments

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wants to bring cryptocurrency payments to the merchants and vendors that do business on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

According to the publicly available text of the resolution — which, unlike legislation, does not carry the force of law — would require a set of officials focused on the management of the seat of Congress to take the steps required to make crypto payments available.

As the text of the resolution notes:

THE SCOOP

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"ACCEPTANCE OF CRYPTOCURRENCY. — The Architect of the Capitol, the Secretary of the Senate, and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives shall each, for the Capitol Buildings that are under their jurisdiction— (1) subject to subsection (c), solicit and enter into contracts to provide food service and vending machines in such Capitol Buildings with persons that will accept digital assets as payment for goods; and (2) encourage the gift shops in such Capitol Buildings to accept digital assets as payment for goods."

“My bill would position Congress to lead on this issue by having congressional cafeterias, vending machines, and gift shops accept crypto payments," Cruz told Breitbart News, which first reported on the resolution. 

Cruz has emerged in recent months as an advocate for cryptocurrency in the U.S. Senate, speaking positively about the bitcoin mining industry in particular in his home state of Texas. Previously, Cruz sought to strip controversial language from a bipartisan infrastructure package related to crypto taxation.