Senator Lummis to chair Senate Banking Digital Assets Committee

Senator Cynthia Lummis has been appointed chair of the newly established Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets through a vote that took place today at 3:00 PM GMT.

FOX News correspondent Eleanor Terret has confirmed that Lummis will lead the newly created subcommittee, which includes other Senators like Thom Tillis, Bill Hagerty, Ruben Gallego, Dave McCormick and Tina Smith.  

🚨NEW: It’s official. @SenLummis is chair of the Senate Banking Digital Assets subcommittee.

Other members listed here: pic.twitter.com/oq0xwQdZgQ

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 23, 2025

The panel, formed after Republicans gained control of the Senate in November’s elections, will reportedly focus exclusively on digital assets. As Congress seeks to uphold President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policies, economists believe Lummis is in a “pole position” to see through her proposed bill to create a US federal strategic crypto reserve.

Cynthia Lummis: Wyoming’s pro-crypto enforcer

Lummis has been a vocal supporter of Bitcoin and crypto since her first-term as a US Senator for Wyoming, in 2021. She has picked up several acronyms for her efforts to draw the US government towards digital currencies, including the name “Senate Crypto Queen.”

“Congress needs to urgently pass bipartisan legislation establishing a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets and that strengthens the US dollar with a strategic bitcoin reserve,” said Lummis after she was announced as the subcommittee chair.

“I am humbled my colleagues have placed their trust in me to chair this historic subcommittee, and I look forward to shepherding bipartisan legislation to President Trump’s desk this year that secures our financial future.”

– Senator Cynthia Lummis

In July 2024, the Wyoming Senator proposed a bill to the US Congress dubbed the “BITCOIN Act,” seeking to create a strategic bitcoin reserve to improve the nation’s financial stability.

“Bitcoin is transforming not only our country but the world and becoming the first developed nation to use Bitcoin as a savings technology secures our position as a global leader in financial innovation,” she remarked.

Lummis also drafted a bill proposing a “Bitcoin Purchase Program” that would enable the US government to acquire up to 200,000 bitcoin annually over five years, culminating in a reserve of 1 million bitcoin.

Last week, she called out the US Marshals Service for planning to liquidate BTC assets seized from the now defunct Silk Road Marketplace. The senator wants the service to hold onto the coins, because it would “create a financial foundation that will benefit future generations.”

Ongoing scuffle with Federal agencies

On January 16, through an official letter, Senator Lummis threatened legal action against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) over allegations that the agency destroyed materials related to digital assets, what she referred to as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

“If it is uncovered that anyone within the FDIC has knowingly destroyed materials or sought to obstruct the oversight functions of the Senate, it will result in swift criminal referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice,” she denoted.

However, in the 2024 Risk Review report, the FDIC and other financial regulatory bodies insisted that banking organizations are “neither prohibited nor discouraged from providing banking services to customers of any specific class or type.”

In her letter, Senator Lummis challenged the FDIC to preserve all materials related to the agency’s digital asset activities since January 1, 2022. This includes any communications with federal and state banking agencies concerning digital assets, as well as documents linked to pending enforcement actions.

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