Last month, a West Virginia senator nearly got laughed off the Internet when he called for the United States government to “ban” Bitcoin. In response, a Congressman jokingly called for the US to ban cash, citing similar reasons including links to crime.

On Wednesday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told the Washington Post that lobbying by Bitcoin entrepreneurs and the recent tax guidelines issued by the Internal Revenue Service have made him temper his opinion a bit.

"Sure, it makes us look at it differently," Manchin told the Post. "It sure will. When I said what I said, it was because it was totally unencumbered. The whole thing lent itself to a lot of improprieties—especially in the underworld, if you will, whether it be drugs or arms. Those were the things I was concerned about."

Following Manchin’s original letter, Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee that her agency doesn’t have the authority to regulate Bitcoin at all.

“The Federal Reserve simply does not have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way,” she said. “This is a payment innovation that is taking place entirely outside the banking industry and to the best of my knowledge there is no intersection at all [between Bitcoin and banks that the Fed can oversee]."

Doesn’t seem like Manchin will be opening up a Bitcoin wallet anytime soon, though.

"There still has to be transparency and a reserve base," he added in his interview to the Post. "There has to be something that's tangible. If the feds can't get their hands around it to where they can secure it, then I would be very leery of investing in it or trading with it or buying with it."