Republican US Senator Cynthia Lummis this week took aim at two federal agencies on behalf of the crypto industry, just days before the federal government’s far-reaching transition when President-elect Donald Trump takes office again.
Lummis warned the U.S. Marshals Office to slow its sales of crypto assets and warned Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials that anyone who dumps evidence about whether the agency ordered banks to drop customers of digital assets will be processed, touching on two of the most prominent issues in the sector.
Keeping the idea of a U.S. bitcoin reserve a priority as a new Congress gets to work and Trump returns to the White House next week, the Wyoming Republican sent a letter this week to the director of the Sheriff’s Office of the US warning that the department should slow down its process of liquidating the crypto assets seized in the Silk Road case. Sales of bitcoin (BTC), including current holdings of nearly 70,000 bitcoins worth about $6.9 billion, are inappropriate, he argued, given Trump’s interest in a strategic reserve of bitcoins in the United States.
“The Department continues to aggressively pursue liquidation plans despite pending legal challenges, demonstrating unusual urgency to dispose of these assets,” Lummis wrote. “This hasty approach, which occurred during the presidential transition period, directly contradicts the stated policy objectives of the incoming administration regarding the establishment of a national Bitcoin reserve.”
On its own, the Sheriff’s Office would have little authority to change course on predetermined liquidation plans already in place, and it cannot make decisions based on a hypothetical government reserve. The president and Congress would have to take steps to formally establish a reserve and a process by which the United States could redirect seized or purchased tokens to that fund.
Crypto markets on Thursday also noted reports that Trump could also be interested in reserves of other US-based tokens.
Lummis also sent a letter to the FDIC on Thursday, saying that members of the agency reported that there is an internal effort to hide evidence of what the crypto industry knows as Operation Chokepoint 2.0: a campaign to separate digital asset activities from American banking. He said any effort to keep those materials out of scrutiny would be “illegal and unacceptable.”
Read more: US regulator told banks to avoid cryptocurrencies, letters obtained by Coinbase reveal
An FDIC spokeswoman declined to comment on the letter.
The Senate Banking Committee has established a subcommittee focusing on digital assets this year and Lummis is said to lead it. She and Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the full committee, will have the opportunity to steer the panel’s crypto agenda in this new session, although they will be countered by its ranking Democrat, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Scott issued a plan to the committee this week, which includes crafting a US regulatory framework for digital assets. He said he would “foster an open-minded environment for new and innovative financial technologies and digital asset products, such as stablecoins, that promote financial inclusion.”
