Crypto's Capitol Hill champion Sen. Lummis says she won't seek re-election

Sen. Cynthia Lummis — a leading force behind efforts to pass sweeping cryptocurrency legislation and to codify a strategic bitcoin reserve — said she will not seek reelection.

The Wyoming Republican's term is set to end in January 2027. In a post on X on Friday, she said this past fall had taken a toll.

"I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon," she said. "The energy required doesn't match up."

Lummis chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee and has spent the past several years at the center of congressional efforts to regulate the crypto industry. She has worked closely with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on comprehensive legislation designed to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, including clarifying oversight responsibilities between agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Senate Banking Committee has been barrelling toward advancing that legislation following several meetings, including Democrats, Republicans, the crypto industry, and traditional finance stakeholders. Sights are now set on early next year to amend and pass the bill out of that committee, but it would still need to be combined with work being done in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Afterward, it would need a full Senate vote before being reconciled with a House version that passed over the summer.

Beyond market structure, Lummis has also pushed for crypto tax reform, including ending the double taxing of miners and stakers, and putting forward a $300 transaction threshold to be exempt from taxes, among other changes. Lummis has also pushed for a bill to cement President Donald Trump's strategic bitcoin reserve into law.

Despite her decision not run for re-election, Lummis is focused on bringing bills to Trump's desk in 2026.

"I look forward to continuing this partnership and throwing all my energy into bringing important legislation to his desk in 2026 and into retaining commonsense Republican control of the U.S. Senate," she said.