Amid growing global regulatory pressure on the crypto industry, the Biden administration’s increased crackdown and actions by regulators have prompted Senator Cynthia Lummis to issue a strong statement against the US government’s stance on the regard to the industry.
Senator Lummis, a prominent supporter of Bitcoin and the overall crypto market, defended the companies and players involved in the current regulatory push.
Lummis condemns DOJ’s “hyper-aggressive” stance
Lummis expressed his deep concern and opposite the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “hyper-aggressive” argument that non-custodial software could be classified as a money transfer service.
The senator deemed this position contradictory to existing Treasury guidance, lacking common sense and violating the rule of law.
Lummis further pointed out that the arguments against self-custody software pose a threat to the fundamental property rights that are intrinsic to being American.
Lummis affirmed his commitment to fighting for the rights of individuals to hold their keys and operate their nodes, expressing dismay at the Biden administration’s criminalization of the fundamentals of the Bitcoin (BTC) network and decentralized finance (Challenge).
Senator Lummis had already disapproved The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has intensified its crackdown on the crypto industry throughout 2023.
Criticizing the SEC’s actions as “unnecessary” and “excessive,” she specifically objected to the agency’s controversial new crypto policy, known as “Staff Accounting Bulletin 121,” issued in March 2022.
Lummis had also filed a amicus brief in support of the Coinbase exchange against the SEC’s lawsuit, arguing that Congress should be responsible for formulating crypto regulations rather than the SEC.
The pro-crypto senator argued that the SEC overstepped its mandate by attempting to classify almost all crypto assets as “securities,” thereby encroaching on Congress’s legislative authority and exceeding the agency’s jurisdiction.
Clear guidelines for crypto regulation
In another statement supporting major players in the crypto market, Senator Lummis called for immediate action to clearly establish regulatory guidelines in response to Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling that XRP should not be considered a security.
At the heart of the debate is the Howey test, a legal standard used to determine whether an investment qualifies as a security. Lummis stressed the importance of preserving the integrity of this test while recognizing the need to apply it appropriately to digital assets.
To address these issues, Senator Lummis, along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, introduced the Lummis-Gillibrand bill. The legislation aims to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets like XRP, aligning their treatment with the interpretation of the Howey Test as established by the Southern District of New York.
The market’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is trading at $57,800 after hitting a low of $56,400 in the early hours of Wednesday.
Featured image from Yahoo, chart from TradingView.com
