WASHINGTON, D.C. — The “Crypto Queen” is very busy holding court these days.
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, spoke this week at the annual bitcoin conference in Las Vegas.
And Lummis, already working to get two cryptocurrency bills through the Senate, will roll out another one “in the next few weeks,” a spokesman for the senator told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
The forthcoming bill will be the third on digital assets in the current term of Congress to be either sponsored or co-sponsored by Lummis. It will address regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Lummis is teaming with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, on the upcoming bill, Lummis spokesman Joe Jackson said in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
It will be a similar version of a House bill introduced Thursday by Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Arkansas.
“This is a positive step! I’m looking forward to working with the House to get market structure legislation to [President Donald Trump’s] desk,” Lummis posted to her X account Thursday about Hill’s legislation, which is called the CLARITY Act.
Other Bills
The forthcoming Lummis-Gillibrand version of the CLARITY Act will join two other crypto bills in the Senate.
One is the BITCOIN Act, which is awaiting committee action.
The other is the GENIUS Act, which got out of committee in March, cleared a crucial floor vote May 19 and is expected to be brought up for final passage next week.
Lummis is the lead sponsor of the BITCOIN Act, which calls for the U.S. government to stockpile bitcoin as a strategic reserve.
She is a co-sponsor of the GENIUS Act, which outlines a regulatory framework for a category of cryptocurrency called stablecoins.
Lummis, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, earned the “Crypto Queen” moniker for her years-long efforts to move crypto bills since joining the Senate in January 2021.
Uphill Climb
Speaking this week at the Las Vegas conference, Lummis described the long and winding road to draw support for crypto bills over the past several years.
Among the hurdles she cited: lawmakers who know little or nothing about the topic, and the numerous committees involved in both chambers.
“It is an exercise in running against the wall and smacking into it, and doing it day and day again with a smile on your face,” Lummis said at the conference.
In the last Congress when Democrats ran the Senate, nothing about crypto even got out of the Banking Committee, much less cleared the floor. Many Democrats remain skeptical of crypto legislation.
But Lummis’s efforts may yet pay dividends. Lummis cited her office’s deep knowledge base about the subject matter, and the trust that her office has built among members of both parties.
“We have a superior base of knowledge,” she said. “Chris Land and Conner Brown in my office are fantastic. They have solid working relationships across the aisle. Their attendance at negotiating meetings is mandatory and not optional. People trust them.”
Not only does the GOP control both chambers of Congress and the White House, but also, there is some bipartisan support for her bills.
“As big a struggle as this has been, I still remain very hopeful and very positive” about passing the various bills, Lummis said.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
