Bill to Kill US Federal Reserve Was Inspired by Bitcoin Book

U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) made waves with Bitcoiners last month after introducing a bill to abolish the Federal Reserve. It turns out that this bill was inspired by a famous book about Bitcoin that described the misdeeds of central banks.

During a podcast appearance Thursday to discuss the bill with author Tom Woods, Massie said he “learned some things” after listening The Bitcoin Standard audiobook by Saifedean Ammous – concluding that it was “well past time” to bring back legislation to end the Fed.

“The first 80% is not about Bitcoin, but about money, but ‘what is money?’ “, explained the congressman. “He has to explain that before you can explain what Bitcoin is, because you can’t assume that everyone knows what money is.”

The 2018 book proposed that Bitcoin could become the world’s most dominant currency due to its superior monetary properties, particularly its scarcity, which is enhanced by a maximum supply of 21 million coins. Ammous also links a series of social ills in recent decades to the United States’ abandonment of the gold standard in 1971, including a reduction in household savings and inflation in housing and asset prices .

Massie’s “Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act” touched on many of the same points, declaring that “retirees are seeing their savings evaporate” under the Fed’s policies, which “benefit the rich and connected.”

Massie co-sponsored a bill of the same name in 2013, originally introduced by former Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul in 1999.

Although this bill received minimal support from just two co-sponsors eleven years ago, Massie says all of Ron Paul’s predictions have come true since then: high inflation, trillions of dollars printed and a “loss of confidence” in government institutions.

To his surprise, Massie said, his 2024 bill received two dozen co-sponsors, all Republicans.

The online Bitcoin community has also given Massie its unwavering support. On Thursday, Massie began an exchange with Ammous on Twitter about how they opposed centralized management of the economy, both quoting economics professors.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.