Senator Cynthia Lummis: “Digital assets ARE the future. We either embrace them, or we lose”

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has expressed her views on digital assets, saying they are the future and the U.S. needs to either embrace them or fall behind. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also noted on Wednesday he believes the U.S. should be the premier destination for digital assets.

Lummis also noted in late February that the U.S. can either pave the way for digital assets or fall behind. She made the remarks as she was seeking clarification from the SEC on digital assets ETP staking restrictions to make U.S. asset managers competitive in the global market. Lummis and other senators argued that the lack of availability of protocol staking for crypto issuers impacts the investment potential of digital asset ETPs in the U.S.

Senator Cynthia Lummis advocates for the U.S. to embrace crypto

Digital assets ARE the future. We either embrace them, or we lose. There is not an in between.

— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) May 8, 2025

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis said on Thursday that digital assets are the future of the financial industry. She also urged the U.S. to embrace cryptocurrencies or get to lose them because there’s no in between.

The U.S. Senator was also named the first-ever Chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets on January 23, 2025. Lummis highlighted that cryptocurrencies are the future and Congress needed to urgently pass bipartisan legislation establishing a comprehensive legal framework for virtual assets if the U.S. wanted to remain a global leader in financial innovation.

The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets was also tasked with conducting robust oversight over Federal crypto regulations to ensure the agencies are following the law, including ensuring Operation Chokepoint 2.0 never happens again.

Lummis also advocates for the GENIUS Act to be enacted, and she believes the U.S. needs the bill, which will establish the first-of-its-kind legislation ahead of a possible key vote on it on Thursday. The Senate Banking Committee advanced the GENIUS Act in March with bipartisan backing. 

The senator for Wyoming argued that the bill requires all stablecoin issuers, even those based overseas, to be able to freeze and recover coins when ordered by U.S. authorities. She also said the bill would create a level playing field between banking and commerce. Lummis added that the GENIUS Act will ensure stablecoins are always backed 1:1, which she believes will prevent destabilizing runs through a tailored regulatory framework.

The government official acknowledged that the bill makes it clear that ethics laws apply to members of Congress and Senior Executives in the government. Her remarks came in the wake of non-Democratic support amid concerns about President Trump and his family’s business ventures involving digital assets.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts noted that the stablecoin bill falls short of safeguarding against corruption, as well as protecting consumers, the financial system, and national security.

Treasury’s Bessent says the U.S. should be the premier destination for crypto

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the House Financial Services Committee on May 7 that the Trump administration wants the digital asset industry to come to the U.S. and play a global leadership role in the sector.

“We believe that the United States should be the premier destination for digital assets. And as members of this committee, and the senate are attempting to create a good market structure around that so that the United States best practices are used around the world.”

~ Scott Bessent, The U.S. Treasury Secretary.

Bessent believes the administration’s efforts to promote clear regulatory frameworks for digital assets will contribute to that goal.

When asked about the impacts if the U.S. doesn’t take a leadership role in regulating crypto, Bessent referred to the previous administration. He noted that an unregulated and renegade ecosystem sprang up outside the U.S., where illicit actors abused the value of the transfer systems, leading to a technological loss.

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