In a ground-breaking move, Senator Cynthia Lummis is set to propose legislation that would require the Federal Reserve to include Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. The new bill aims to elevate Bitcoin to the status of a mainstream financial asset, similar to the Fed’s holdings of gold and foreign currencies. This legislative push is designed to help stabilize the U.S. dollar by diversifying the types of assets held by the Fed. The official announcement is expected to take place at the Bitcoin Conference.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also been vocal about his support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In an interview with Scott Melker and Caitlin Long, Kennedy emphasized Bitcoin’s potential as a hedge against inflation and a means to restore democracy and personal freedom. He suggested issuing treasury bills backed by hard assets like gold and platinum to combat inflation and proposed that the government invest in Bitcoin to match its gold reserves. Kennedy is a strong opponent of CBDCs and has accused Congress of being influenced to suppress the growth of Bitcoin within the U.S.

Adding to the political significance of the Bitcoin Conference, David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine and the Bitcoin Conference, announced that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was scheduled to speak at the event, which runs from July 25 to 27. Bailey noted that this appearance could be a strategic move for Harris to align with the rapidly growing voter base interested in crypto. He commented, “It would be very savvy of her to reset the Democrat positioning on the fastest growing voter block in the country.” This suggests that the 2024 Presidential election might become known as the “crypto election” due to the heightened focus on cryptocurrency policies by major candidates. It has now been confirmed that she is no longer attending.

The market for spot Ethereum ETFs has seen significant activity recently. On their second trading day, the ETFs had net outflows of $113.3 million, mainly driven by large withdrawals from Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust. Despite this, seven out of eight new ETH ETFs reported net inflows. Leading the pack was the Fidelity Ethereum Fund with $74.5 million in net inflows, followed by Bitwise Ethereum ETF with $29.6 million, and BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust with $17.4 million. On its first day as a spot Ethereum ETF, Grayscale’s ETHE saw outflows of $484.4 million, while the other eight collectively reported net inflows of around $106 million.

Now for some huge Bitcoin gains. Users affected by the 2014 Mt. Gox hack are beginning to receive repayments. During the hack, Bitcoin was priced between $30 and $653. With current Bitcoin prices hovering around $66,000, customers will be seeing returns ranging from 100x to 3000x.