Cryptocurrency is not a partisan issue, but rather a question of supporting the administrative state or the individual. Both political parties are moving toward supporting crypto, although one is moving faster than the other, United States Congressman Tom Emmer said. 

Speaking at the 2024 Consensus event, Emmer pointed to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s support, along with 70 other Democrats, for the resolution to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) controversial SAB 121 crypto rule as a sign “the star […] may be fading” for crypto opponent Sen. Elizabeth Warren, SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the White House itself. Emmer repeatedly complained that Warren “drives a lot of decisions in the White House.”

Hope for FIT21 passage

Schumer might introduce the crypto-friendly Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) into the Senate, Emmer said. That bill passed in the House of Representatives on May 22. The problem is that the Senate could make changes to the bill and send it back to the House. Otherwise, it is more likely to pass during the lame duck session, after the next elections but before newly elected legislators are seated.

Emmer was not surprised by the SEC’s approval of spot Ether exchange-traded funds, considering the agency’s recent reversals. Gensler may be “on his way out,” Emmer said, adding, “Be very careful about trusting a cornered animal.”

A desirable next step for digital assets would be a “solid, stable stablecoin that can be traded anywhere around the world.” When that happens:

“You’re going to see the digital assets space go to a whole new level.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell could suffer the same fate as Gensler, Emmer thought:

“Jerome Powell […] is from the past. He looks forward and doesn’t see the digital asset space.”

The Fed has naughty CBDC ideas

The Federal Reserve is “confused” about whether it can develop and implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Emmer stated. President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets is proof of that, despite Powell repeatedly stating that it would not issue a CBDC without Congressional authorization.

The passage of the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act in the House on May 23 showed “how politically potent this issue is.” Emmer compared CBDC to “a CCP — Chinese Communist Party — style surveillance tool.” Nonetheless, “we’re not going to say never” to digital cash that truly emulates cash in its open use and privacy protection.

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