US Senator sets 2026 goal for two crypto bills

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said she expects Congress to pass two pieces of crypto legislation related to stablecoins and market structure “before the end of this calendar year.”

Speaking at the Bitcoin Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Lummis discussed the progress of the Digital Asset Market Clarity, or CLARITY Act, in the House of Representatives and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, in the Senate.

Lummis said she would be “extremely disappointed” if the two bills did not pass through Congress by 2026.

Lummis chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s digital asset subcommittee, which held a hearing on Tuesday discussing crypto market structure legislation. The Wyoming senator acknowledged the challenges of getting bipartisan support for any crypto-related bills over “concern that certain people that have family members in the administration are going to be advantaged in some way by what we’re doing.”

“I don’t want to come up with a piece of legislation that the other side of the aisle feels they haven’t had adequate input in,” Lummis said at the Tuesday hearing.

While some Democrats have sided with Republicans like Lummis to vote for crypto bills, including the GENIUS Act — 18 Democrats made up the 68 “yea” votes for the legislation on June 17 — others have suggested they will not support any legislation without first addressing US President Donald Trump's involvement in the crypto space and the possible implications for personal gain.

The president has issued his own line of memecoins, has a stake in his family-backed crypto business World Liberty Financial, and has received political donations from digital asset companies’ executives.

Battle to pass crypto bills in the House

Lummis’ stated goal to have both bills ready by 2026 suggested a later timeline than what Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said in May.

Hines speculated that the GENIUS Act could be ready before Congress’ recess in August. Trump said on June 18 that he would be willing to sign the bill with “no add-ons” from the House if it were to pass quickly.

With Republicans having a slim majority in the House, both the market structure and stablecoin bills would likely need at least some Democratic support to pass.