TETON VILLAGE, WY. — The window for crypto legislation in 2024 is narrowing, but there is still a path toward getting something passed this year, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said Wednesday.
While neither she nor Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who also spoke at the SALT Wyoming Symposium hosted ahead of the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole meeting, delved into the specifics of any particular bill, she referenced work in the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Lummis and Scott also appealed to voters during the brief SALT appearance, saying Republicans are more aligned with crypto interests than Democrats. (Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has loudly endorsed crypto this election cycle. While Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, hasn’t directly addressed the issue, Bloomberg on Wednesday reported that she’s signaled a friendlier stance toward digital assets.)
Scott, the lead Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has not said much about crypto during his tenure as the committee’s ranking member. However, he introduced himself to crypto crowds with Lummis at the BTC Nashville conference last month, where he echoed popular talking points in the crypto community, including calling for more lenient regulators and saying he’d support crypto-friendly legislation.
If control of the Senate flips to Republicans, Scott will become the chair. On Wednesday, he floated the possibility of creating a subcommittee focused on digital assets if he takes on that role.
“Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a subcommittee on the Banking Committee that focuses on the industry, so that we bring more light to the conversation, more hearings on the industry, so that we get things done faster,” he said. “We go further, faster in a shorter period of time, because we have the kind of motivation and momentum that leads to having bills on the floor marked up.”
Both Lummis and Scott referred to current committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as lawmakers who were creating “headwinds” in their pursuit of crypto legislation.
“The only way we’re going to get anything done this year is if it comes through the Senate Agriculture Committee in the form of Commodity Futures Trading Commission [legislation],” Lummis said. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate Majority Leader, vowed to move crypto legislation through the Senate and have it signed into law by the end of the year during an appearance at a “Crypto4Harris” event last week.
Source:- yahoo.finance
