Ted Cruz of Texas shops the Bitcoin dip

Senator Rafael ‘Ted’ Cruz of Texas, who pushes Congress for crypto adoption, is putting his money in the biggest cryptocurrency in the world. Cruz purchased between $15k and $50k worth of Bitcoin (BTC) on January 25 using the River brokerage, according to a financial report filed on Friday.

Bitcoin was trading between $36k and $37k at the time, and it has since increased to its current price of roughly $41,500. His current profit on the purchase is in the range of $2,000 – $6,850, assuming he hasn’t sold his bitcoins and paid any short-term capital gains taxes.

Cruz spent most of the latter half of the crypto bull run connecting himself with the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency industry, following the footsteps of fellow Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming as his state profited from an influx of Bitcoin mining companies and interest in the subject grew.

He has lobbied for the acceptance of cryptocurrency payments in gift shops and vending machines throughout the U.S. Capitol complex, and he has raised his voice against a point in the recent infrastructure bill that many say would broaden the definition of a ‘broker’ to include miners, validators, and developers.

Some crypto miners reduced or halted operations during the current cold weather in Texas to maintain the state’s energy grid infrastructure, which failed during a severe winter in 2021. Cruz was famously absent for a part of that time since he was traveling to the resort of Cancún, Mexico.

Many members of Congress own Bitcoin

River Financial is licensed in several states in the United States. However, their website does not list a Texas Money Transmitter license. To conduct any form of transaction exchanging virtual with sovereign currencies, no Bitcoin or currency exchange license is required in Texas, says the Texas Department of Banking on Virtual Currencies. In October 2021, the Democratic Party in Texas decided to raise funds using NFT sales with Front Row.

A number of members of Congress have revealed ownership in Bitcoin or related equities, including Democrats Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts and Marie Newman of Illinois, as well as Republicans Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Barry Moore of Alabama.