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Senator Cynthia Lummis has argued that the Federal Reserve Board continues to flout the law on master accounts, and that it is continuing the Biden-era opposition to crypto.
In a of posts on X (formerly Twitter), the Republican senator for Wyoming accused the regulator of holding back the industry through its crypto-asset policy, despite having withdrawn guidance for banks on crypto-assets and dollar tokens.
She said: “The Federal Reserve’s actions yesterday withdrawing crypto guidance are just lip service. Here’s why: The Fed continues to illegally flout the law on master accounts."
Lummis added: “Unlike the OCC and FDIC, the Fed STILL uses reputation risk in bank supervision. The Policy Statement on Section 9(13) hasn’t been withdrawn, which says bitcoin and digital assets are unsafe and unsound. Last but certainly not least, the Fed staff behind Operation Chokepoint 2.0 are the same people still working on crypto issues today.â€
Senator Lummis is known to be one of the strongest advocates of the crypto-assets sector in Washington, DC, and her home state of Wyoming has been one of the early adopters of crypto and digital assets.
Wyoming is planning to launch a stablecoin, the , which would be the first fiat-backed token issued by a government in the US, by July 2025.
Deregulation drive
Senator Lummis’ criticisms came after the Federal Reserve Board scrapped some of its crypto-asset regulations as part of a deregulation drive, as covered by ÂÜÀòžž.
It rescinded its 2022 that had established an expectation that state member banks inform it of planned or current crypto-asset activities, the that henceforth it would monitor banks’ crypto-asset activities through the normal supervisory process.
It also rescinded its 2023 on the supervisory nonobjection process for state member bank engagement in dollar token activities.
The board’s deregulation move followed a letter from Republican lawmakers calling for an end to Biden-era fintech policies and reflects the Trump administration's desire to bring crypto into the mainstream.
Senator Lummis’ intervention makes clear that the pro-crypto faction will continue to push its agenda fiercely and will not accept what it perceives as soft pedalling from regulators seen as traditionally anti-crypto.
