Elections may swing Senate Banking Committee toward crypto, Sen. Lummis says

Cryptocurrency is increasingly becoming a political issue, and upcoming elections will be decisive in the future of crypto in the United States, Senator Cynthia Lummis told the audience at the Bitcoin Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Innovations in mining could add weight to the pro-crypto argument, she added.

The current political atmosphere is stifling for crypto. “In this administration, there are a number of high-ranking policy positions that are held by people who are threatened by Bitcoin because they know they can’t control it,” Lummis said.

Therefore, “we’re trying to view it [crypto] as a negative and foresee how we should regulate the negative side of it,” despite its benefits.

“The banking committee is kind of the obstacle,” Lummis said, and the Senate race is Ohio will be critical in determining the political landscape for crypto: 

“You’ve got a sort of a Blockchain entrepreneur running as a Republican against the sitting chairman of the banking committee, who seems to have Elizabeth Warren whispering in his ear about this topic,” Lummis said.

The current chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, is a vocal crypto skeptic. He is being challenged by Bernie Moreno.

Related: Senate Banking Committee’s priorities for new Congress include crypto: Report

In addition, Montana Senator and Banking Committee member Democrat John Tester also holds a key position and “we’re trying to educate his opponent on my side of the aisle about Bitcoin and Blockchain technology.”

Lummis did not name the opponent. There are three Republican candidates who will face off in the Montana primaries in the run-up to the national election.

“We have better advocacy on the [House] Finance Committee and the Ag [House Agriculture] Committee,” Lummis continued.

Lummis went on to talk about mining, saying Bitcoin miners are starting to get innovative with energy generation. She said, “Essentially we look at Bitcoin mining in two ways. There’s grid stabilization — utility scale — and then there’s energy harvesting.”

Innovations such as energy harvesting, via methane gas, for instance, can “get capital excited about […] the energy use of Bitcoin and how it can be positive versus viewed as parasitic,” Lummis said.

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