Lummis Bill Draft Wants to Bring Digital Assets Within the Regulatory Perimeter

The long-awaited digital asset regulation bill originally proposed by Senator Cynthia Lummis has been drafted and will soon make its debut. 

Lummis and Gillibrand Cryptocurrency Regulation Plan

Senator Cynthia Lummis, US attorney, and first-term Wyoming Republican, for much of the past year, has enthralled the Bitcoin community with appearances at crypto festivals across the country and has teased the contents of her comprehensive digital currency regulation plan in a series of podcast appearances, industry gatherings, and high-profile media appearances. In March, New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand joined the hype train as a co-author, giving the project a new veneer of bipartisanship.

The campaign has sparked a lobbying frenzy among digital asset firms, venture funders, and consumer advocates. They want to imprint their names on a bill that Hill aides and industry insiders say will set the tone for how Congress drafts crypto laws in the future years, even if it is unlikely to become law in the form Lummis and Gillibrand plan to release on Tuesday.

“This is the starting point for discussions about what the law should look like,” said Miles Jennings, crypto general counsel and head of decentralization at Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture firm that’s a major investor and lobbying force in the world of digital assets. “I think that is one of the reasons we’re excited about it.”

The bill’s contents will most likely reveal who wields power in the ever-expanding world of crypto lobbying. It’s already caused friction between the industry’s growing number of trade bodies, many of which are supported by rival digital asset businesses. Both politicians’ aides say they’ve been inundated with ideas on how to address everything from cryptocurrency exchange laws to tax policies.

“It’s hard to pay attention to things that are abstract and, for most members of Congress, this has been abstract for a long time, That has changed dramatically in the last 12 months — and part of that’s thanks to you all.”

Lummis, a long-time holder of Bitcoin, told the audience at the Bitcoin Miami Conference earlier in the year.  Crypto skeptics fear that the bill’s hype is part of a larger effort by crypto companies to persuade politicians to exempt them from regular finance regulations. 

The bill’s draft has been released and is expected to spark debate among industry groups, crypto watchdogs, and academics over its specifics. The law is expected to encompass cybersecurity, financial regulation, investor protection standards, and stablecoins, in addition to new rules for trading platforms and crypto service providers.