Ted Cruz – Republican Senator and Representative of Texas – wants to impose an El Salvador-esque mandate on Capitol Hill. He has put forward a brand new legislative proposal that would require all of its vendors to accept crypto payments. Cruz has proven extremely supportive of cryptocurrencies before, and his proposal could help other politicians familiarize themselves with the technology.

Ted Cruz’s Proposal

Two days ago, the Senator submitted the ‘‘Adopting Cryptocurrency in Congress as an Exchange of Payment for Transactions Resolution’’. It calls on capitol buildings under certain jurisdictions to include “persons that will accept digital assets as payment for goods”. Furthermore, it requests that gift shops in those same jurisdictions be encouraged to accept crypto as well.

Cruz later spoke with Breitbart News about his idea. With this proposal, he hopes to get the government familiarized with the industry before it leaves them behind.

“Congress is typically slow to adopt new technology. My bill would position Congress to lead on this issue by having congressional cafeterias, vending machines, and gift shops accept crypto payments.”

He isn’t the first to recognize this fact. 20 years ago, Peter Thiel predicted something very similar to Bitcoin and expected governments to be completely clueless about it.

The resolution makes sure to prohibit any payment contracts that would “preclude” other preferred payment methods besides crypto. As with El Salvador’s Bitcoin mandate, businesses are still free to accept dollars as payment.

Bukele’s law and Cruz’s proposal are similar in that they are not intended to be too coercive. However, both seek to make adherents to the laws familiarized with crypto at a bare minimum.

The senator recognizes that more and more businesses are accepting crypto as a payment method. For example, Quiznos launched a pilot program months ago at certain Denver locations to accept Bitcoin in exchange for food. Furthermore, Venezuela’s International Airport plans on accepting Bitcoin for flight tickets

Congress Needs To Pay Attention To Crypto

Senator Cruz was extremely vocal regarding the controversial cryptocurrency stipulations in the Infrastructure bill last month. The bill called for the taxation of “crypto-brokers”, a poorly defined term that could include exchanges, miners, or even node operators.

Cruz blasted congress’s seeming dismissal of this poor phrasing in favor of debating partisan issues. Calling out their ignorance regarding the entire space, he stated that their decision was “reckless and harmful” to the industry,

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