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(Bloomberg) — The crypto industry is on a roll in Washington and it’s not just because of Donald Trump.
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A key ally is rising in the Democratic party and the industry just demonstrated its political might by sweeping away a long-entrenched antagonist with a flood of campaign money.
Crypto-friendly stablecoin legislation is poised to pass the Senate after years of the industry’s Capitol Hill agenda languishing. Prospects for other priorities also are improving.
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a long-standing supporter of the crypto industry, moved up in her party’s leadership ranks to head election fundraising. She’s put her growing influence behind efforts to repeal a tax reporting rule on digital assets and pass a friendly stablecoin regulatory bill.
Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Senate Republicans’ leading crypto advocate and a regular partner of Gillibrand on related legislation, said the New York Democrat’s backing is pivotal. Out-of-power Democrats can still stymie legislation in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed for most bills.
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“Without her, it doesn’t happen,” Lummis said, citing credibility Gillibrand has built on financial issues while representing Wall Street’s home state and the importance of bipartisan alliances in the Senate.
Gillibrand’s cross-party relationships extend to Republican Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, another crypto supporter who also has been tapped by his party to head up fundraising for the coming election. The two have a personal friendship and participate together in a weekly prayer luncheon. Her partnership with Lummis on crypto even included a joint fundraising committee in 2022.
Gillibrand argues the country should cultivate the emerging crypto industry rather than drive it offshore through the kind of regulatory burdens others in her party like progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren seek. Still, some level of regulation is essential, she adds.
“If we do nothing, and this industry is left to its own devices, we’ll have more collapses, we’ll have more Sam Bankman-Fried frauds,” Gillibrand said in an interview in her Senate office.
Under Trump, who has embraced crypto and even issued his own memecoin, federal regulators have backed off on cases against crypto companies. But his stance will only guide enforcement as long as he remains in the White House.
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