Im pleased to cochair this hearing on the present and future impact of Virtual Currency. My friend senator merkel and i appreciate the work senator heller has done and senator kirk will be joining us as well. Were going to do this a little different because its a joint subcommittee hearing i will chair the first panel and the senator will chair the second. The uses of Virtual Currencies have proliferated in recent years. My hope for this hearing is to educate the Senate Members and others and start the education of the public about Virtual Currencies, including the potential and drawbacks. I also hope to explore how regulators are keeping up with this technological innovation to protect consumers. Ive got a full statement here but i actually have to acknowledge that ive been following this development of bit coins for the last two months. I would think im only starting to wrap my head around the potential upside, downside, regulatory issues, Monetary Policy issues, taxation issues, Con
Lenders. I think thats something that id like to talk a little bit about here today because members of our military have to resort to financing from these predatory lenders all too often. We know military Service Members are three times more likely than civilians to use predatory payday loans that charge exorbitant rates. Thats three times the civilians use. The military families carry 10,000 or more in Credit Card Debt compared to 16 for civilian frames. 10 of military families carry more than 20,000 in debt compared to just 7 of the civilian families, and more than half of military Service Members are not saving for the future and have trouble paying their monthly bills. Thats why this morning, i reintroduced my military savings act which is legislation i previously introduced in the house of representatives, and the bill would promote Savings Rates among military Service Members and decrease their need to turn to predatory payday lenders in times of financial crisis. The bill establ