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FOX Business has learned that the Senate Banking Committee is preparing to announce the creation of its first subcommittee dedicated to digital assets.
The move comes just days after Republicans officially took control of the Senate last week and ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. It is also seen as a pledge by Senate Republicans to prioritize crypto legislation and support Trump's campaign promise to make the US the world's cryptocurrency hub.
Creating a crypto subcommittee is one of the first orders of business for Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina as the new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees banks and financial regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Senator-elect Cynthia Loomis (R-WY) meets with the media on November 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. The Senate is meeting for the first time since the 2020 presidential election, and the coronavirus aid package is high on their priority list. (p (Stephanie Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images/Getty Images)
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Scott hopes to emulate the success of the House Subcommittee on Cryptocurrencies, which was established in 2023 by former North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry. Last year, the House Financial Services Committee made history by passing a crypto bill drafted by the Digital Assets Subcommittee, Bill FIT21, which aimed to create a regulatory framework for digital assets. This bill must still be submitted to the House of Representatives for discussion and voting, and if approved, will be submitted to the Senate.
Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin Conference 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, US, on Saturday, July 27, 2024. Trump said that if he were to return to the White House, he would want the administration to create a huge reserve of bitcoins. to (Photo: 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. Aides also confirmed that Scott has tentatively tapped bitcoin advocate Cynthia Loomis, a Republican senator from Wyoming, to chair the subcommittee, pending a vote in the coming days.
According to an internal memo released by Scott and seen by FOX Business, Republican members tentatively selected for the subcommittee include Sens. Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, as well as Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Bill Haggerty. They are from Tennessee. Both Moreno and McCormick received significant financial support from the $3.5 trillion cryptocurrency industry during their respective 2024 races thanks to their pro-crypto leanings. Moreno received more than $40 million in industry funds channeled through pro-crypto super PACs, helping him win the seat from incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown, who had held it for eighteen years.
Ohio Senate candidates Bernie Moreno, a Republican, (L) and Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat (R).
It is currently unclear which Democratic senators will serve on the subcommittee. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is now the top Democrat on the Banking Committee, and her historic anti-cryptocurrency 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 supporters of the industry and may look to serve on the subcommittee. Senator Pete Ricketts, former governor of Nebraska, is also very pro-crypto. While governor, Ricketts signed the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act, which authorized a new charter for digital asset depositories, allowing them to hold cryptocurrencies.