Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican, sees crypto as a likely topic coming up in Senate races that are vital to the future leadership of the Senate Banking Committee.
She asked crypto enthusiasts to attend public forums in the elections and make sure the candidates have to answer questions about their positions on digital assets.

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said that the high-stakes Ohio election that could decide both the Senate majority and the leadership of the Senate Banking Committee is likely to dig into cryptocurrency issues, and she encouraged industry insiders to make sure it does.

Crypto skeptic Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), whose Democratic Party currently controls the Senate, is the chairman of the Banking Committee and has been reluctant to allow digital assets regulatory bills to move through the panel, despite some progress in the House of Representatives. In Ohio's general election, he faces Republican challenger Bernie Moreno, an Ohio businessman and crypto enthusiast who founded a blockchain startup, and Lummis – a member of Brown's committee – predicted on Tuesday that digital assets could be front and center in this matchup.

At a Bitcoin Policy Institute event in Washington, she suggested that industry supporters should make sure to attend public forums in that race and make sure the candidates get on the record about crypto.

"Have people in the crowd to ask questions," she said, adding that Brown "seems to have Elizabeth Warren whispering in his ear on this topic," referring to the Massachusetts Democratic senator widely seen as crypto's chief detractor in Congress.

"The Banking Committee is kind of the obstacle here," Lummis said.

Lummis also flagged the Montana race against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), another Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee that'll likely be instrumental in any future crypto bills. She said she's been "trying to educate" his Republican opponent on blockchain and crypto matters.

Lummis noted that her Democrat partner in one of the leading crypto legislative efforts, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), is also facing an election this year.

Earlier at the same event, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said a stablecoin bill still has a shot at being approved by Congress this year. However, the weeks available for legislative action are waning this year as the elections heat up.

Regulations Sherrod Brown Cynthia Lummis Senate Banking Committee Congress Election 2024

Jesse Hamilton

Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor on the Global Policy and Regulation team, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022, he worked for more than a decade covering Wall Street regulation at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, writing about the early whisperings among federal agencies trying to decide what to do about crypto. He’s won several national honors in his reporting career, including from his time as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a police reporter for newspapers. Jesse is a graduate of Western Washington University, where he studied journalism and history. He has no crypto holdings.