Senator Cynthia Lummis will lead the new Digital Asset Subcommittee, pushing for stablecoin and market structure legislation. Meanwhile, witnesses at an upcoming hearing have criticized SEC policies, highlighting regulatory tensions in the crypto space.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has been a supporter of Bitcoin and other digital assets in Congress for many years. After four years, she will now be in charge of the Senate Banking Committee’s newly formed Digital Asset Subcommittee. This is a very important step toward making laws about stablecoins and market structure.
But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a longtime supporter of crypto, is not on the Senate Banking Committee, so Lummis needs backing from both parties. Gillibrand and Lummis co-sponsored Senator Bill Hagerty’s (R-TN) GENIUS Act, which shows that they want stablecoins to be regulated even though they disagree with each other politically.
Support for an X article called “That Colossal Wreck” by a Witness
Jai Massari, co-founder and chief legal officer of Lightspark, is one of the witnesses who will be at the next meeting. On February 21, Massari supported an article on X that criticized SEC policies during the Biden administration and called for big changes to the way regulations work.
Austin Campbell, who is an adjunct professor at NYU Stern and the new CEO of WSPN, has often criticized the SEC’s method in congressional testimony. In his article called “That Colossal Wreck,” he wrote about a meeting he had with a top Democrat who told him not to criticize former SEC Chair Gary Gensler too much.
Campbell turned down the request and explained his plan for responsibility. He said that regulatory setbacks in the last four years were caused by SEC policies.
“They should not be allowed to return to the government, allowed anywhere near the levers of power, and anyone in the Democratic party supporting, aiding, abetting, or directing them should be ejected immediately and roundly derided for this absolutely shameful chapter in US financial regulatory history,” said Campbell.
Massari emphatically tweeted on X regarding Campbell’s article:
“This. All of this. Every word. @CampbellJAustin 🔥✅🏆 We must do better. Face the no good, very bad story and work to fix it. Caring about good government and institutions means taking a hard and clear-eyed look, particularly when it is not politically convenient.”
