NEWSLETTER
On Tuesday, representative Keith Ammon went to a media and media committee of the New Hampshire representatives about Bill from the Hble of Representatives (HB) 302which would allow the State Treasurer to invest in bitcoin.
When talking with the Committee, he mentioned the excessive debt of the United States and made the case of the state of New Hampshire to invest in bitcoin as a means to mitigate the devastating effects of inflation.
While listening to his request, I had the feeling that the ammon representative was a bitcoiner dyed in the wool, someone inside the system doing everything possible to make the members of the State Legislature call their home to see in bitcoin what it probably saw in it many moons.
After talking to the Ammon representative, I learned that this is, in fact, the case.
The software developer and self -described “bitcoin Maxi” (which admits to having also seen some value in other blockchains and cryptographic projects) found bitcoin two years after its start and has been running the voice in New Hampshire since then.
As the founder of the New Hampshire Blockchain Council and a state representative who is the main sponsor in the Three current bills related to bitcoin and crypto in the state That they are currently making their way through the legislative process, the Ammon representative is perhaps the most notable bitcoin defender in the state of granite.
And the story of how bitcoin found is a bad back to start.
According to how he spoke at the Tuesday's committee audience about HB302, I had the impression that you are a bitcoiner for a long time. Is this the case?
Yes, and I will start for a long time. I heard something called the Free state project In 2004, and I moved to New Hampshire to be part of that. Years later, I attended an event called Freedom Forumwhich is an annual event carried out by the Free state project. In 2011, there was a group of anarchists who did not like the forum agenda, it was too corporate for them. Then, they rent a couple of rooms at the hotel where the event was held and had their own event, which they called the “Expo Alt”. I wandered and sat in the room. Maybe there were six people there. They had a slide projector and were talking about the precursor of undulating, or XRP, which was Ripe. It was before the blockchain, but it was some kind of system of nodes and lent money to people and Ious would flow from one place to another. However, he simply did not click for me. But I was in touch with that small group of people and, a few months later, bitcoin's idea arose from another discussion with them. I remember being like: “Wow, this is incredible. This is what will change the world.”
Did you understand it immediately?
I come from a software development fund and read books like The creature of Jekyll Island In my veins, so my brain was prepared to receive the concepts related to bitcoin and the bulb shot very early. I had a lot of understanding about large and abstract systems, which is basically what bitcoin is. But also the game theory behind this is simply incredible. bitcoin is like a virus that lives in the human mind and spreads from person to person.
How was it trying to spread it to other government members?
Then, progressing quickly until 2015: I was chosen for the state legislature. We tried to propose some bills related to bitcoin at that time, but no one understood bitcoin at that time. However, I have maintained with that, and now it is at the point where I am an expert in the field within our legislature. I am in my fifth mandate, and bitcoin has become more conventional. Other politicians in New Hampshire communicate with me every time they listen to something positive about bitcoin. Well, they also communicate with negative news, but lately, there have been many positive news. So, I find the legislature up to date.
You have done a lot of work by changing the Overton window with respect to bitcoin in New Hampshire. And, at the committee hearing on Tuesday, he talked about the use of bitcoin as a tool to protect against the degradation of the US dollar. You mentioned that the United States federal government has a debt of $ 36 billion and that you will have to print more money to fulfill your debt obligations. How do people react in the government when you mention difficult truths like this and propose bitcoin as a solution?
Our national debt is a very hard reality that people often overlook. However, there are enough gold errors in our legislature, and are from Sound Money's school of thought. But most of the legislature, and only people in general, see national debt as an asteroid that comes: we can see it coming, but we still have to get up and go to work every day. It is a scenario in which, unless you really look at what is happening, you tend not to concentrate on it because it is such a big problem. If you ever intensify and snowballs, it could cause massive chaos in society. We do not want that to happen, and we can see that there is an alternative with bitcoin. You can pick up your dogs and change equipment. You don't have to suffer the consequences. Well, it will be affected at some level if society begins to crumble, but can limit some of the consequences, or at least protect your personal sovereignty and wealth. And I look at this for the State. Tuesday's conversation was about allowing the state treasurer to invest in digital assets that have a market capitalization of $ 500 billion or more. We are trying to make all these conversations move within the state government so that when it becomes a little more obvious that bitcoin is a solution to inflation, or the country in bankruptcy, God does not want it, the members of the state government are prepared to receive this message.
I am sure that it is easier to make politicians see the problem than convincing them that bitcoin is a solution. Are you receiving a lot of recoil in HB302?
With that particular bill, we work with the SATOSHI Action Fund. I have become friends with Dennis Porter and Eric Peterson. We start with one of its model pieces model. The first thing we did was that we met with the state treasurer. Dennis and his team appeared and I had a couple of people from the Blockchain Council. We sat at the Treasurer's office and talked to her about it. It was not 100% familiar with bitcoin, but was open to the idea of learning more about it. He also commented that his colleagues throughout the country are beginning to talk about digital assets. After this discussion, we refine the bill. We modify it in the Commerce Committee, which is the first committee that happened. After that, we talked again with the state's treasurer about the amendments. She said that the State Treasury Department may not invest in bitcoin immediately, but that it would be good to have another tool in the toolbox, another potential asset to invest.
HB302 stipulates that only digital assets with a market capitalization of more than $ 500 billion can be included in the reserve. From now on, only bitcoin meets this criterion. How did this number occur to you and expect other digital assets to finally be added to the reservation?
There must be some type of threshold, because we do not want anyone to have the idea that the state treasurer could invest in memes coins. However, we cannot explicitly say “bitcoin” in legislation.
Why not?
It would be seen how to choose winners and losers. Good legislation must be rational and impartial.
What is the probability that HB302 will happen?
Well, the house is likely to pass, and then go to the Senate. I think there is more likely to 50% of passing to the Senate. The problem is that when the camera approves some bills and the Senate knows that there is a priority on the chamber side, they grant their things when the bill is approaching. Because of this, sometimes the invoices can die in that crossfire between the two cameras.
Are politicians in the New Hampshire government now taking the idea of a more serious digital asset reserve because they are seeing members of other state governments presenting bills that propose the creation of such reservations in other states?
I don't know. Actually, there are only a handful of members of the New Hampshire legislative body who are paying attention to this. I try to stress when I testify that the last one in the pool when it comes to bitcoin loses. In other words, we do not want to be the last state to buy bitcoin, because its price will increase significantly meanwhile, especially if other states begin to buy first. There is still some skepticism about bitcoin. All these false narratives, such as their use of energy will melt the planet or that only drug terrorists and drug traffickers are still widespread. As new people try to wrap it, they have often not discredited as quickly as possible, because, after doing that, they no longer have to think about it. So, these same arguments are still raised by new people who are still trying to solve it. The same happens in our legislature. However, now that the Trump administration is serious about that, talking about how we are going to be a country of bitcoin, that really breaks down some walls. Now, even if they do not understand it completely, at least they will take it more seriously.
If HB302 is passed and the state's treasurer begins to buy bitcoin, what kind of custody configuration imagines that the State believes?
Everything moves to the rhythm of a snail in the government, so the most likely scenario is to buy some actions of Say The Fidelity Spot bitcoin ETF at the beginning. Fidelity is like one of New Hampshire's biggest employers. That has a lot of influence. So, I imagine they would invest a small amount in a vehicle like that. But as time passes, the State can be able to be autonomous bitcoin is important. I imagine that they probably don't want to do it on their own because they would be afraid of losing their keys. They would probably like an institutional situation of shared custody, such as what Unchaine or other companies offer: custody in all institutions with a multisig.
A problem that has not emerged in a large amount of legislation related to bitcoin and crypto is cryptographic mixers and their legality. In addition, the Samurai wallet and Tornado in cash Developers are still in trial, despite the fact that many other cases of cryptography are being expelled under the Trump administration. What do you think about cryptographic mixers? Should Americans be allowed to use them?
Yes. Financial privacy is super important. It is bad if you buy a cup of coffee and the merchant who owns the store where you spend on your SAT pairs can see all your bitcoin balance. Financial privacy is enormous, and it is something that we cannot give up. So, however, that is done, it must be protected.
Any final thought?
Yes, there is a lot of scam in cryptographic space, and becomes very annoying. bitcoin is the opposite. It is the hard truth. If bitcoin understands, you value the truth, you value honesty and transparency. It becomes a bit old to always have to dodge these stapped bullets of the largest cryptographic ecosystem. The truth will win at the end. Many other projects in space are only noise, a big smoke screen.
