Lummis Renews Commitment to US Crypto Regulation: ‘The Fight is Far From Over’

United States senator Cynthia Lummis said that the “fight is far from over” as she re-dedicated herself to pushing for a positive regulatory framework for crypto over the weekend.

The Republican, from Wyoming, reassured followers on Twitter that she is still working on proposed regulation, a revamped version of which had been expected to circulate in April.

Referencing the removal of a proposed 30% tax on crypto mining from the recent U.S. debt ceiling bill, Senator Lummis hailed the recent victory but said there was more work to be done.

“I am working on a regulatory framework that will allow individuals and companies to own and trade digital assets in America,” she said. “Stay tuned…”

Her bill, co-sponsored by New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, was first put forward last year, but is set to do the rounds again this year after some revisions.

But the proposed legislation, known as the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, comes at a time of increasingly tense relations between regulators and crypto firms in the U.S.

Crypto faces U.S. headwinds

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought separate lawsuits against market leaders Coinbase and Binance.

Lummis condemned the action taken against Coinbase, saying that the SEC had “failed to provide adequate legal guidance” and arguing that Congress needed to pass the Lummis-Gillibrand act in order to create a “robust legal framework” that businesses can comply with.

Now, pressure on Congress to enact crypto regulation looks to be heating up, as companies such as Circle implore lawmakers to regulate them. Some businesses are even exploring the option of shifting their bases to other countries.

One of the purposes of the proposed bill would be to clearly define which digital assets are commodities, and which are securities, a question which has been at the heart of many regulatory disputes.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has gone after two of the world’s biggest crypto brands this week, suing Binance and Coinbase and making very serious allegations about both companies. In his ongoing onslaught against the industry, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on Monday alleged that Binance, the world’s biggest digital asset exchange by volume, was run through a “web of deception” by CEO Changpeng Zhao and commingled customer funds.  The regulator on Tuesday then claimed that Ameri...

It would also impose requirements on stablecoin issuers, and effectively ban algorithmic stablecoins.

While work on the bill was first announced in March 2022, Lummis said earlier this year that a new, “slimmed-down” draft would respond to feedback from both regulators and the industry.