Lawmakers Delay Digital Assets Legislation

Lawmakers are delaying their timeline for passing digital assets market structure legislation, indicating challenges in fulfilling pro-crypto election promises.

During the inaugural meeting of the U.S. Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets on Wednesday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) stated that a bipartisan group of pro-crypto legislators aims to pass a comprehensive framework for the industry by the end of this year. This timeline is several months later than Republican policymakers had previously announced for advancing significant crypto market structure reforms in Congress.

Lummis remarked, “Many members of the Senate are still trying to wrap their heads around ‘what is a Bitcoin;’ ‘what is a digital asset,’ ‘what is a stablecoin.’” She expressed hope for getting legislation to President Trump for his signature within this year.

Earlier this month, newly appointed Crypto Czar David Sacks pledged to push Congress to secure digital assets market structure reforms and other pro-crypto initiatives into law within the first 100 days of President Trump’s second administration. However, during Wednesday’s meeting, both lawmakers and industry experts exhibited less urgency to expedite these efforts.

Instead, attendees primarily discussed existing securities regulations and stablecoin bills, such as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025 Act introduced earlier this month. Their reluctance to adhere to Sacks’ 100-day timeline reflects a broader retreat from pro-crypto election promises among politicians.

Furthermore, the initiative to establish a Bitcoin stockpile in the U.S. Treasury—a central element of President Trump’s pro-crypto campaign—remains in its early stages, and it appears to have lost support among policymakers, as the topic was barely mentioned in Wednesday’s meeting.

At the state level, three bills aimed at creating Bitcoin reserves have failed this year. While the Trump administration and its allies have fulfilled some pre-election commitments to the crypto community—such as pardoning Silk Road creator Ross Albright and appointing pro-crypto regulator Paul Atkins to lead the Securities Exchange Commission—investor sentiment toward crypto saw significant decline after previously peaking in anticipation of Trump’s return to the White House.

Currently, Bitcoin is down 12.6% for the week, trading at $84,000, with other major tokens like Solana and Ethereum also experiencing double-digit losses in the same timeframe.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair