came in 21 and have had the chance to be here every year awesome and you know uh like a lot of people my age uh I learned about Bitcoin from my daughter and my now son-in-law and it made absolutely no sense to me the idea of funny internet money uh but I I got to go speak at the Satoshi Roundtable uh and I was not there to speak about Bitcoin thank goodness CU I really didn't know that much about it in in uh 2017 but uh it was a year when there was a fascinating discussion at the Satoshi round table so I sort of went down the rabbit hole learned a lot about Bitcoin and then when I came back to the US Senate uh had an an area of exposure to a subject that nobody else in the Senate really knew anything about so it sort of gave me a leg up and educating people about Bitcoin in the from the US Senate to uh you know your hom toown is a big challenge for all of us especially now that we're crying for Clear regulatory policies which I want to get to but how did you get here well thank God for your leadership in the Senate on bitcoin I will say without any question I got here let's give her a round of applause I mean literally when you're when you're the only Senator out of a 100 with a clue you have an immense responsibility and you took it on your shoulders and you brought a team together including me I actually became a huge fan because I grew up in a single parent household mired in poverty and I always wondered how do we get opportunity back to the poorest Americans to marginalize communities and I got to say without any question having people who believe in your future is significant and the the concept of democratization brought me to the conversation the ability I wanted to be a preacher at one time I'm going to move around a little bit so forgive me for moving some but the ability to bring resources and opportunities and access to the marketplace to the people who need it most that's what Bitcoin is about that's what this is about giving the average American a chance to make their own decisions at home no matter where you live if you're on the Mountaintop or with me in the valleys low having a chance to democratize our financial footprint is an absolutely essential part of achieving the American dream and whatever we can do wherever we can do it let's get it done let's get it done right now great so I now you've got me standing yeah thank you it's just common sense and you've been leading us on this really important conversation but the real challenge that we've seen in Congress there are serious people in the way of making sure that American innovation is leading the globe in Innovation and we have to get rid of the folks who are in the way yeah and the folks that are in the way in large part are on the Senate Banking Committee yes and here's the good news Republicans are going to be in the majority next year and Senator Tim Scott is going to be the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee well let us pray as the chairman of the Banking Committee the one thing I will absolutely guarantee will be done is watching your legislation get a vote pass the Banking Committee and we're going to fight to make it a law in the United States of America setting Bitcoin free here at home free at last free at last thank God Almighty it's free and [Applause] last well the Nexus between Senator Tim Scott's core values and his appreciation for Bitcoin is that it's Freedom money it gives individuals their sovereignty yes from the poorest person to Michael sailor 100% well Cynthia Michael sailor ain't the poorest person you could say Amen to that but uh here here's what I can tell you though we need to make sure on our committee the Banking Committee that we create the kind of rules of the road that are very wide we need a wide pathway for Bitcoin to be successful here at home and we need to make sure that things like Taxation and regulation does not stifle Innovation is what you taught me we got bring the hurdles down so that anywhere in America the poorest persons do not have to climb a mountain to step over something yeah let's make it easy and one of the ch that we see at the SEC with chairman guinsler Lord have mercy yeah I'm glad that we have the same affection for the same people this is good this is good we have to get hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more no more no more yes so that so so the the problem we're having yeah explain what I just said you you have not been in the majority to govern what comes out of the Banking Committee and the Banking Committee has jurisdiction over the Securities Exchange Commission yes so we've been a unable to move the needle they're trying to hoard the definition of what is a commodity versus what is a security and they're regulating by enforcement action not by clear rules we're going to make the rules we're going to make the rules and the good news Cynthia one of the things we're going to have to do as we make the rules of the road a light touch is so important the one thing you don't want to do in in the Youth of this industry is to be oppressive we don't need a large paternalistic hand saying to people who grew up like did like I did poor little people you're too dumb to make your own financial decisions that to me is condescending AB it is paternalistic and it is dead wrong y we need to make sure that the rules that we create gives a great pathway for individuals to make their decisions I believe that you can make your best decisions about your financial future and we need to make sure that the regulatory environment under the next president of the United States Donald Trump is a regulatory environment that understands Liberty and freedom are inseparable and money is a necessary component to experience that freedom so we want people rather it's they love their dollars or they love their digital assets we want them in charge of making their decisions absolutely and to the extent that we do that we set people free to be autonomous making your decisions that's what makes this thing so exciting because we're so close to the finish line so what's so great as you can see about Senator Tim Scott becoming the chairman of the Banking Committee is he believed in we the people that we created the Federal Government not vice versa yes and that the people should be telling us what to do so we've been meeting while we've been in town here in Nashville with various individuals who are helping us understand how to rightsize statutes and how to rightsize regulations one of the problems right now is that we don't have have a clear regulatory framework in statute that can govern what is a commodity what is a security and what kind of rules need to be complied with in order to protect consumers but not stifle growth That's The Sweet Spot we're looking for we don't want to stifle growth but we want to make sure that where appropriate consumer disclosure is made available and frequently that is the cut between Securities and commodities 100% well that kind of disclosure is just called transparency and frankly what what was done so well here is creating an environment where people have great confidence because you have a public Leisure on the on the blockchain so here's what we know without any question is that the process itself has been designed around Safety and Security yes let's just not get in the way of what's working exactly right um so the Innovations of Bitcoin are now becoming more clear in the US Senate and it's also becoming more clear uh who wants to protect the Innovation and who wants to regulate it and what we're seeing in this Administration is that people who really believe in government the government knows best the government should control the money because if government controls the money they control us yes and so the resistance in this Administration is to letting go of power and so we need to take over the Department of Treasury the Federal Reserve the SEC the cftc the OCC and and the FD and the FD I see and which empowers people to continue to innovate and The Innovation absolutely must occur in this country so that was why yes the Republican party at the direction of Donald Trump put into the Republican platform that we're not having a cbdc we're which is a really smart thing that individual wallets will be protected as an individual Sovereign asset love it that Bitcoin mining and the Bitcoin Universe needs to be centered in the United States of America yes and to make sure that is a reality we're on the finance committee the one thing we need to make sure that does not happen is that the mining process takes a lot of energy under the Biden Administration they want to put on an excise tax of 30% yeah that devastates devastates we know that a light touch is a whole lot less than 30% let's let the let's let the energy flow and we are working towards that process especially here in Tennessee where the Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear energy is a part of the solution going forward y the energy makx is really [Applause] important it's also important Senator Scott that we have that regulatory framework yes so when you and and as as Senator Scott said he's also on the finance committee so next year we'll be crafting a new tax policy because the current tax policy expires so we not only have the future chairman of the Senate Banking Committee but a member of the all important ta writing Committee in the US Senate with us today and this is your first Bitcoin confence right this is my first Bitcoin conference and I got to say I I am not just stunned I am incredibly excited that you got 20,000 mostly red-blooded Americans showing up shouting out and taking control of their financial Futures that is amazing people flown all across the all across the world though I've met folks from all across the world here exactly it's kind of fun well and the people that are here from elsewhere in the world also value that individual sovereignty that personal freedom and having your own form of money that you choose that you control without somebody taking a slice out of the transaction every time it's moved from one holder to the next holder to the next full holder is important so you look at for example El Salvador there are a lot of people here in the United States working that send remittance Monies to El Salvador they can get out a smartphone send it to their parents in El Salvador the parent doesn't even have to go to uh Western Union uh and so they don't even have to uh put their uh Health at risk by perhaps getting robbed in root so this is freedom money all over the world 100% but what you said is so important I don't want to miss that at all that in fact this is the safest securest way to transfer resources to your loved ones and other parts of the world and the cheapest way absolutely transfer those resources absolutely the banks call it friction that's their way of saying I get my piece of the pie yeah you know Senator Scott you invent opportunity zones yes so your and it let's do applaud that it is it was a fabulous [Applause] idea can you equate your ideas yes for creating opportunity zones to Bitcoin now one of the things I've said very often Cynthia uh Senator lumus Senator lumus Cynthia is good and lumus rhymes with hummus yes I was getting ready to say that darn it one of the things that I I think about is that the good Lord and the people of South Carolina have given me an opportunity to serve the American people as a kid looking for opportunity I think it's my responsibility to never forget where you're from yeah and never forgetting where you're from means creating the kind of legislation and vehicles that bring opportunities everywhere opportunity zones was designed with my why in mind the stronger you're why the easier you're what the more clear you're how to get things done and opportunity zones is bringing back over7 billion dollar to fight poverty and the poorest areas without using a single federal dollar all private dollars all private incentives letting people make their own decisions Bitcoin allows for people in the private sector unhindered by government to make their own decisions to make investment decisions you know a few years ago my nephew started educating me about Bitcoin and about two weeks from now he passes his he passes his test to be a doctor wow but what he's been telling me is Uncle Timmy diversify diversify diversify it's called financial literacy even at 58 years old I'm still becoming more financially literate opportunity Zone simply says we can devastate destroy or decimate poverty by bringing more resources more tools to the poorest Americans This Bitcoin movement says the exact same thing yeah and so I see parallel tracks and that's why I get really excited about what I get to do every single day it's to fight for people who can't show up in Washington to fight for themselves we work for people we don't lead them first we work for them first we're your servant and I have to listen and then I leave well I got to say I can't think of anyone better to lead the Senate Banking Committee and and the Senate finance committee can we give a warm welcome to Senator Tim Scott thank you thank you thank you and I'll close okay I'll close thank you all very much I I should have turned around I had a 17 person standing evation I missed it I'm sorry thank you three right there appreciate my man thank you very much yes so let me close with this since 20 2017 there's been one champion in the United States Senate who made the decision after attending a conference that she wanted the champion the cause of individual Freedom individual liberty individual decisionmaking and you can live or die by your own choices but it is not her responsibility to make him for you it's her responsibility to set you free her name is cynia lumus thank you