Republican US Senator Cynthia Lummis took aim at two federal agencies on behalf of the crypto industry this week, just days before the far-reaching transition of the federal government when President-elect Donald Trump takes office again.
Lummis warned the US Marshals Office to slow down her sale of crypto assets, and she warned officials at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that anyone who gets rid of evidence about whether the agency asked banks to drop digital asset clients will be prosecuted, touching on two of the sector’s most prominent issues.
Keeping the idea of a U.S. bitcoin reserve top-of-mind as a new Congress begins work and Trump returns to the White House next week, the Wyoming Republican this week sent a letter to the director of the U.S. Marshals Office, in which he warned that the department should slow its process to liquidate the crypto assets seized in the Silk Road case. The sale of bitcoin (BTC), including current holdings of nearly 70,000 bitcoin worth about $6.9 billion, is inappropriate, she argued, given Trump’s interest in a US bitcoin strategic reserve.
“The department continues to aggressively push forward with liquidation plans despite pending legal challenges, demonstrating an unusual urgency to divest these assets,” Lummis wrote. “This hasty approach, which took place during the President’s transition period, directly contradicts the incoming administration’s stated policy goals regarding the establishment of a national Bitcoin repository.”
By itself, there is little authority the Marshals Office would have to change course from the predetermined liquidation plans already underway, and it cannot make decisions based on a hypothetical government stockpile. The President and Congress would have to move to formally establish a reserve and a process by which the United States could divert seized or purchased tokens into this fund.
Crypto markets also noted Thursday the reports that Trump may also be interested in reserves of other US-based tokens.
Lummis also sent a letter to the FDIC on Thursday, saying agency insiders have reported an internal effort to hide evidence of what the crypto industry knows as Operation Chokepoint 2.0 — a campaign to separate digital asset activities from U.S. banks. She said any attempt to keep such materials out of control would be “illegal and unacceptable.”
Read more: US regulator told banks to avoid crypto, letters obtained by Coinbase Reveal
A spokeswoman for the FDIC declined to comment on the letter.
The Senate Banking Committee has set up a subcommittee focused on digital assets this year, and Lummis is said to be heading it. She and Sen. Tim Scott, the chairman of the full committee, will have a chance to drive the panel’s crypto agenda in this new session, though they will be opposed by its ranking Democrat, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Scott released a plan for the committee this week, including the creation of a US regulatory framework for digital assets. He said he would “foster an open-minded environment for new, innovative financial technologies and digital asset products, such as stablecoins, that promote financial inclusivity.”
