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.
She described a hypothetical scenario in which the Senate Agriculture Committee could vote a bill out of committee, and it would become "a Christmas tree, as we call it."
In this scenario, Lummis said she could see stablecoin provisions tacked on to the Agriculture Committee bill, using the Howey Test as a base for helping define stablecoins.
"Chuck Schumer gets to have his SAFER Banking bill, and all of a sudden you come up with a very broad financial services bill, and then it's got enough flow to pass," Lummis said. "And so that's a scenario that actually could play out after the election. The challenge is going to be having enough legislative days to pull something like that off."
Scott concurred, saying it was unlikely that any bill could work through the Senate Banking Committee this year.
"The motivation and the incentives are there. Two pieces of the incentives that are really important, [House Financial Services Committee Patrick] McHenry [in] financial services, [Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie] Stabenow [are both retiring members," he said. "Schumer wants to give Stabenow a swan song, which could be this legislation. So you have the forces on both sides of the aisle in a bicameral way, working to get something done so that their legacy includes legislation that will be incredibly beneficial, not only to the industry, but in my opinion, to the American consumer."
Election considerations
Scott predicted that there is a good chance for Republicans to hold 52 or 53 seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate after the 2024 election, noting that West Virginia's Joe Manchin (I-W.V.) was not running for reelection and pointing to close races in Ohio and Montana.
"It's not about being better politically. It's really about self-interest. Americans vote on typically popular issues, and then community issues," Scott said, pointing to former President Trump's comments at BTC Nashville as a focus on these issues.
Lummis took a shot at Vice President Harris during the panel, saying "there is no indication" that she would be "good to this industry."
Harris' campaign has yet to present any crypto-specific plans, only beginning to roll out policy initiatives last week. Earlier on Wednesday, Harris campaign adviser Brian Nelson, a former senior Treasury official, said Harris wants to grow the crypto industry, without delving into specifics.
Lummis said this is a stark contrast to the Republican party platform, saying Trump had written a platform pitch that did include digital assets.
The 2024 election is the friendliest one for Republicans over the next six years, Lummis said, referring to the number of seats up for grabs in red-leaning states. Republicans will be more on defense than Democrats in the next two elections (2026 and 2028), she said.
"So the best math for Republicans is this one. If we had a Republican president, Republican House and Senate for two years, we can move mountains. We could be significant. We can take the lead in this industry and others and move the needle in a positive direction that fosters innovation," she said. "If we miss this opportunity, we don't have the same opportunity for a long time."
