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The Senate Banking Committee is set to announce the creation of its first-ever subcommittee dedicated to digital assets, FOX Business has learned.
The move comes just days after Republicans officially took power in the Senate last week and ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. This will make the Republican Party’s hold on government complete, as it retained control of the House after the election. This is also seen as a commitment by Senate Republicans to prioritize crypto legislation and support Trump’s campaign promise to make America the world’s crypto epicenter.
Creating the crypto subcommittee is one of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s first tasks as the new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees banks and financial regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) meets with the media November 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. The Senate is reconvening for the first time after the 2020 presidential election, and the coronavirus relief package is high on its list of priorities. (P. (Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Scott hopes to emulate the success of the lower house crypto subcommittee created in 2023 by former North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry. Last year, the House Financial Services Committee made history by passing a crypto bill authored by the Digital Assets Subcommittee, called the “FIT21” bill, which aimed to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets. The bill must still be presented to the full House of Representatives for debate and a vote and, if passed, be submitted to the Senate.
Former US President Donald Trump speaks during the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, Saturday July 27, 2024. Trump said he would ask the government to create a massive Bitcoin reserve if it returned to the White House with the aim of (Photographer: Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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News of the new Senate subcommittee was first reported by Punchbowl News and confirmed to FOX Business by two Senate aides. Aides also confirmed that Scott had tentatively selected Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a bitcoin advocate, to chair the subcommittee pending an approval vote that will take place in the coming days.
Republican members tentatively selected for the subcommittee, according to an internal memo released by Scott and viewed by FOX Business, include freshman senators Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania as well as Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. Both Moreno and McCormick received significant financial support from the $3.5 trillion crypto industry during their respective runs in the 2024 elections thanks to their pro-crypto leanings. Moreno received more than $40 million in industry funds funneled through pro-crypto super PACs, helping him win the seat from incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown that had held it for eighteen years.
Ohio Senate candidates Bernie Moreno, Republican (left), and Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrat (right).
It is not yet clear which Democratic senators will serve on the subcommittee. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is now the top Democrat on the Banking Committee and her historically anti-crypto views are expected to continue.
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Two freshman Democratic senators, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Andy Kim of New Jersey, are both considered industry supporters and could be candidates for a position on the subcommittee. Senator Pete Ricketts, former governor of Nebraska, is also very pro-crypto. As governor, Ricketts signed the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, which authorized a new charter for digital asset custodians, allowing them to hold crypto.
