Cynthia Lummis Tapped to Lead First-Ever Senate Crypto Subcommittee

Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming is reportedly being tapped to lead a new subcommittee focused on digital assets.

According to FOX Business this would be an offshoot of the Senate Banking Committee. It has a new chairman in Tim Scott of South Carolina, who has previously said that “crypto has the potential to democratize the financial world.”

Scott recently held a meeting with David Sacks, Donald Trump’s incoming crypto czar, and appeared with Lummis on a panel at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium last September.

At the time, he had said, “Wouldn’t it be kind of cool if we had a subcommittee in the banking committee focused on the sector, so we can bring more light to the conversation, more hearings on the sector, so we can get things done faster? “

Such a subcommittee already exists in the larger House of Representatives, which is also undergoing a leadership change.

On Thursday, it was announced that Bryan Steil of Wisconsin will chair the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence – with jurisdiction over crypto, stablecoins and CBDCs.

He succeeds Congressman French Hill of Arkansas, who in turn will become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The Stand with Crypto The campaign group has given Steil an ‘A’ rating, indicating he strongly supports the digital assets sector, with the congressman previously warning that a lack of regulation threatens to “push opportunities abroad.”

After his new position was announced, Steil said: “Innovation in the financial services sector presents exciting opportunities for consumers and entrepreneurs as technologies such as financial apps, digital assets and machine learning revolutionize our economy.”

The selection of Lummis and Steil to lead these two crypto-focused subcommittees is a sign that Donald Trump appears to want to take advantage of Republicans’ full control of the government — especially when it comes to implementing his pro-Bitcoin promises .

A regular on the crypto conference circuit, Lummis was an early adopter of BTC – and through her Senate bills, has led calls for the US to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Last July, she unveiled the Boosting Innovation, Technology and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment (BITCOIN) Act, which requires the government to purchase 1 million BTC over five years. Lummis has emphasized that this $95 billion investment would not be funded by taxpayers, but would instead use existing funds from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.

That goes beyond what Trump himself has proposed, with the president-elect suggesting that approximately 200,000 BTC seized by criminals (with a current market value of $19.2 billion) could be converted into such a reserve.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.