Sen Lummis backs market structure legislation to combat illicit finance

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has gone out of her way to back the bipartisan digital asset market structure legislation that she has played an active role supporting and shaping of throughout the year.  

Her recent post from December 30, 2025 reiterates that: “Our market structure legislation enables public-private partnerships to combat illicit finance. With our bill, we can protect Americans and foster innovation.” 

The effort ultimately aims to draft clear regulatory rules for cryptocurrency while encouraging innovation and safety for customers. 

Senator Cynthia Lummis worked with others on the guiding principles for market structure and has shared statements supporting what they come up with to combat illicit finance 

Senator Cynthia Lummis doubles down on market structure legislation 

Senator Cynthia Lummis worked with Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on the guiding principles for market structure legislation. 

Those principles lay emphasis on pro-innovation rules, consumer protections, as well as the recognition of tokenization as an efficiency-enhancing evolution in finance. 

A core element of those principles explicitly addresses illicit finance with a draft including compliance requirements for centralized intermediaries, deliberate measures to curb money laundering and encouragement of public-private partnerships to increase detection rates. 

Lummis has repeatedly highlighted that the legislation mainly targets people with nefarious purposes and poses no risk to innovation. 

Her recent post from December 30, 2025 reiterates that. She shared the post via her official X page, and wrote: “Our market structure legislation enables public-private partnerships to combat illicit finance. With our bill, we can protect Americans and foster innovation.” 

At the time of this publication, the bill is stuck amid bipartisan negotiations. Many had been anticipating a markup in late 2025, but that has been postponed until early 2026. 

Lummis’ time at the Senate ends in January 2027, and she is determined to make sure the bill passes by the time she has to leave, viewing it as critical to keeping the growth of America’s digital assets domestic rather than offshore. 

Lummis has revealed she will not seek reelection

Cynthia Lummis is currently the chair of the Senate Banking Committee’s crypto subpanel and a reliable ally for the crypto industry. She is currently handling negotiations as part of an industry-backed push for the broader regulation of cryptocurrency. 

However, when her tenure ends in 2027, the popular administrator has revealed she will not be seeking reelection, triggering contemplation among those who have dubbed her the cryptocurrency industry’s fiercest advocate on Capitol Hill. 

Lummis cited the “difficult, exhausting” final weeks of this year’s Congress as the main reason she chose to withdraw her reelection bid, saying she’s “come to accept that I do not have six more years in me.”

Crypto interests have bemoaned her retirement, but it sets up a primary for her seat in Wyoming in 2026. 

“Senator Lummis has been a great ally on crypto — very sorry to see her go!” said David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar, in a post to X. 

Conner Brown, the head of strategy and the Bitcoin Policy Institute, echoed similar sentiments, calling Lummis “the Senate’s first and finest bitcoiner.”

“We are incredibly lucky to have had her leadership at so many critical moments for bitcoin policy over these critical years,” Brown said.

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