Senate Banking Committee to launch subcommittee on digital assets

The Senate Banking Committee is preparing to announce the creation of its first subcommittee on digital assets, FOX Business has learned.

The move comes days after Republicans officially took over the Senate last week and ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. It would make the GOP control of the House after the election 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 the epicenter.

Creating a crypto subcommittee is one of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s first orders 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 on November 9, 2020 in Washington, DC (Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Scott hopes to emulate the success of the crypto subcommittee in the lower house, which was created by former North Carolina congressman Patrick McHenry in 2023. Last year, the House Financial Services Committee made history by passing the Digital Assets Subcommittee’s draft bill FIT21, which aimed to Create a regulatory framework for digital assets will be submitted to the plenary session of the House of Representatives for discussion and voting, and if passed, will be moved to the Senate.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, TN on Saturday, July 27, 2024. Trump said he would ask the government to create a massive supply of bitcoin if he returned to the White House (Photo by 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. The aides also confirmed that Scott has pre-selected Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, a bitcoin advocate, to chair the subcommittee pending confirmation. to the vote that will take place in the coming days.

According to an internal memo provided by Scott and seen by FOX Business, the Republican prelims for the subcommittee include freshman Sens. Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, as well as Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Bill Haggerty of Tennessee. Moreno and McCormick both received significant financial support 3.5 from the trillion-dollar crypto industry in their respective races in 2024 thanks to their crypto leanings. Moreno received more than $40 million in industry funds funneled through pro-crypto super PACs to help him win the seat from incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown. who occupied it for eighteen years.

Ohio Senate candidates Bernie Moreno, Republican, (L) and Sen. Sherrod Brown, Democrat (R).

It is currently unclear which Democratic senators will serve on the subcommittee.Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts 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 pro-industry and may appear to serve on the subcommittee. Former Nebraska governor, Senator Pete Ricketts, is also very pro-crypto. Governor Ricketts signed the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, which allowed a new charter for depositories of digital assets for allowing them to store cryptos.