U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, who has arguably been the closest pal to the crypto sector in Congress, will not search one other time period, she mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
The primary-term lawmaker will name it quits after her six-year time period ends in January 2027, leaving a Republican seat open in extraordinarily purple Wyoming, but in addition eradicating a serious ally for the digital property trade. Lummis has been the inaugural chair of the primary subcommittee devoted to crypto issues on the U.S. Banking Committee, the place she’s pushed crypto-friendly laws as a prime precedence.
Even now, she’s among the many main negotiators for the crypto market construction invoice, which can draw members again to the bargaining desk after the vacation break. She’ll nonetheless be there in what could also be a remaining push for the trade’s prime legislative aim in 2026.
“Deciding not to run for re-election does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I’ve come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” Lummis mentioned within the assertion, launched because the chamber deserted Washington for the break. She equated herself with a sprinter who has been working in a marathon. “The energy required doesn’t match up,” she said.
Over and over, Lummis has introduced bills meant to ease a path toward regulatory acceptance and the government embrace of crypto. Those have included broad market structure efforts, crypto tax proposals and the legislation to establish the government’s bitcoin stockpile.
Though the congressional midterm elections in 2026 will be a high-stakes political battlefield in which the party majorities in both chambers will be on the line, the last time a Democrat held a Senate seat in Wyoming was in the 1970s. In Lummis’ 2020 campaign, she took almost 73% of the vote.
“I am honored to have earned the support of President Trump and to have the opportunity to work side by side with him to fight for the people of Wyoming,” Lummis said in her statement. She said she’ll be “throwing all my energy into bringing important legislation to his desk in 2026 and into retaining commonsense Republican control of the U.S. Senate.”
Crypto advocates are already lamenting her departure. Ji Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, called her a “main champion for digital property in Washington.”
“Her deep understanding and conviction have helped elevate digital property coverage and strengthen U.S. innovation and management,” Kim mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
Learn Extra: Key U.S. Senator on Crypto Invoice, Lummis, Negotiating Dicey Factors With White Home
UPDATE (December 19, 2025, 22:04 UTC): Provides remark from CCI’s CEO.
