Sen. Ted Cruz Wants to Force Capitol Hill Vending Machines to Accept Crypto

After the collapse of FTX, crypto is top of mind for U.S. lawmakers, many of whom are scrambling to get to the bottom of what brought the once-mighty crypto exchange to its knees.

But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is thinking about something a little different – he wants to make sure the grub on Capitol Hill can be purchased with cryptocurrency.

On Wednesday, Cruz introduced a concurrent resolution that, if adopted, would require the Architect of the Capitol, the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives to only contract with food service contractors and vending machine operators for the Capitol complex that accept cryptocurrency.

The text of the resolution was not available on Congress’ website at press time, and representatives for Cruz did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.

Cruz has been a vocal supporter of the growing crypto mining industry in Texas, saying last year that he wanted the Lone Star State to be an “oasis on planet Earth for bitcoin and crypto.” He has also been outspoken about the need for members of Congress to be more educated when it comes to crypto, and has publicly disclosed his own cryptocurrency holdings.

But when it comes to actually introducing legislation that would move the needle on crypto regulation, Cruz is lagging behind other senators like Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) John Boozman (R-Ark.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) – all of whom have worked on major crypto-related bills.

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