Ted Cruz wants hungry lawmakers to use crypto at vending machines – Markets Insider

Senator Ted Cruz is pushing for the wider adoption of cryptocurrency, and one route may be through his fellow Capitol Hill lawmakers seeking to satisfy their sugar cravings.
The Texas lawmaker this week filed a reintroduction of a resolution that would require the US government to work with contractors running vending machines and food services at the Capitol that accept cryptocurrencies for payment.
The resolution also encourages gift shops in Capitol buildings to allow customers to use digital assets to pay for purchases. The resolution does not specify any particular cryptocurrencies.
“Cryptocurrency is generating new jobs, encouraging entrepreneurs to invent new values and creating new hedges against inflation, and presenting new opportunities,” said Cruz in a statement released Thursday. He filed his first resolution on the matter in 2021.
Cruz himself has put money into the crypto space. Last year, he bought up to $50,000 worth of bitcoin. He’s also said he wants to make Texas an “oasis” for bitcoin and other digital assets.
Crypto is increasingly being used as a secure payment form for goods and services, the junior senator said Thursday. “This is precisely why we, here at the United States Capitol, should increase accessibility and signal our support for the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry to those who visit Capitol Hill,” he said.
Foreign tourists at the Capitol could benefit from using crypto as it would free them from paying “unnecessary and often costly” currency exchange fees, he said.
For implementation, his proposal will need approval in the House and the Senate.
Bitcoin on Friday was trading around $22,925, below the range of $36,000-$37,000 at the time Cruz bought the popular cryptocurrency in January 2022. Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have been suffering through a so-called crypto winter marked by a steep valuation slide.
But there are signs a potential recovery is taking shape. The cryptocurrency market’s valuation this week pushed above $1 trillion for the first time since crypto exchange FTX collapsed in November.