Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the crypto industry’s staunchest supporters in Congress, is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill next year that would cover everything from how digital assets are taxed and categorized to consumer protections.
The bill, if enacted, would provide regulators with clear guidance on which assets belong to different asset classes, offer protections for consumers, regulate stablecoins, and create a new organization under the joint jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to oversee the digital asset market, a senior aide for the senator told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
Lummis, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, is seen by industry participants as a key advocate for crypto, in which she also invests. In October, filings show she disclosed a Bitcoin purchase worth between $50,001 to $100,000 made earlier this year. She’s also one of a growing number of U.S. politicians to solicit campaign contributions in crypto: Her Wyoming website accepts donations in Bitcoin via the Bitpay platform.
The bill, which faces a tough path through an evenly-divided Senate that is mostly split on partisan lines on the question of cryptocurrency regulation, would be one of the first attempts at establishing comprehensive rules of the road for the growing industry.
-With assistance from Robert Schmidt.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.