Cynthia M. Lummis, U.S. Senator from Wyoming, has encouraged bitcoin (BTC) miners to come to her state.
Following on from an appearance on CNBC’s Financial Advisor Summit, Senator Lummis tweeted on July 3, “If you are in the Bitcoin mining space, please reach out. We WANT you in Wyoming.”
She is the latest in a series of United States officials to encourage miners to bring their operations to The States. Due to the ongoing crackdown on BTC mining in China, which once accounted for around 65% of the world’s BTC mining, many operations were forced to close.
Recently, Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, called China’s decision “a trillion-dollar mistake” and that they had “squeezed the [bitcoin] industry” out of the country.
Some miners have since moved their operations overseas, with Texas among the favorite destinations due to its cheap energy prices. Senator Lummis’ invitation to Wyoming follows a similar one from Miami’s mayor Francis Suarez. Mayor Suarez said his city’s own cheap energy (sourced from nuclear power) is an ideal place for the energy-intensive mining process.
Wyoming is already known as a crypto-friendly state, with some referring to it as “the promised land” for BTC investors.
Sen. Lummis discusses BTC mining
While appearing on the CNBC Financial Advisor Summit at the end of June, Senator Lummis addressed BTC mining and its environmental implications.
“There was research at the University of Cambridge, that showed that bitcoin mining uses about 40% renewable energy,” she explained to correspondent Ylan Mui. “and in the non-bitcoin mining economy, it’s only 12%. So bitcoin mining is already more environmentally adapted to non-carbon emitting energy sources.”
The senator advocated BTC at several points during her appearance, confirming that she had invested in no other cryptocurrencies.
“The only one I really understand is bitcoin,” she said. “Now that doesn’t mean that Ethereum might not have benefits as well.
“I don’t want everybody putting all their money in bitcoin, just like I don’t want everybody putting it in dollars and putting it under a mattress. I like diversification. But to me, since there’s only going to be 21 million bitcoin ever mined, it’s a good store of value because it has defined scarcity.”
As the interview came to its close, Senator Lummis revisited the environmental issue once again, saying “There’s a lot of innovation that’s happening behind the scenes. So I would say, don’t judge bitcoin mining as an energy bad guy. There are a lot of things going on that prove otherwise.”