Crypto's closest ally in Congress, Sen. Lummis, is retiring next year

Policy Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Crypto's closest ally in Congress, Sen. Lummis, is retiring next year The most tireless advocate of digital assets issues in the U.S. Senate said she's grown too tired to keep at it, leaving her Republican seat in play next year. By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De Dec 19, 2025, 9:25 p.m. Crypto ally Senator Cynthia Lummis is leaving Congress next year. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk) What to know : U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a dedicated friend to crypto causes, has decided to exit the Senate after her first term. Lummis said in a statement that she doesn't have another six years in the tank, but she intends to deliver major legislation to President Donald Trump's desk next year. U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, who has arguably been the closest friend to the crypto sector in Congress, won't seek another term , she said in a statement on Friday. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the State of Crypto Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . The first-term lawmaker will call it quits after her six-year term ends in January 2027, leaving a Republican seat open in extremely red Wyoming, but also removing a major ally for the digital assets industry. Lummis has been the inaugural chair of the first subcommittee dedicated to crypto matters at the U.S. Banking Committee, where she's pushed crypto-friendly legislation as a top priority. Even now, she's among the leading negotiators for the crypto market structure bill, which will draw members back to the bargaining table after the holiday break. She'll still be there in what may be a final push for the industry's top legislative goal in 2026 . “Deciding not to run for re-election does represent a change of heart for me, but in the difficult, exhausting session weeks this fall I’ve come to accept that I do not have six more years in me,” Lummis said in the statement, released as the chamber abandoned Washington for the break. She equated herself with a sprinter who has been running in a marathon. "The energy required doesn’t match up,” she said. Over and over, Lummis has introduced bills meant to ease a path toward regulatory acceptance and the government embrace of crypto. Those have included broad market structure efforts, crypto tax proposals and the legislation to establish the government's bitcoin stockpile. Though the congressional midterm elections in 2026 will be a high-stakes political battlefield in which the party majorities in both chambers will be on the line, the last time a Democrat held a Senate seat in Wyoming was in the 1970s. In Lummis' 2020 campaign , she took almost 73% of the vote. “I am honored to have earned the support of President Trump and to have the opportunity to work side by side with him to fight for the people of Wyoming,” Lummis said in her statement. She said she'll be “throwing all my energy into bringing important legislation to his desk in 2026 and into retaining commonsense Republican control of the U.S. Senate.” Read More: Key U.S. Senator on Crypto Bill, Lummis, Negotiating Dicey Points With White House Cynthia Lummis U.S. Senate crypto legislation U.S. Senate Banking Committee U.S. Political Elections More For You Protocol Research: GoPlus Security By CoinDesk Research Nov 14, 2025 Commissioned by GoPlus What to know : As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M. GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month. Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B. View Full Report More For You SBF's cohorts at FTX take last SEC hit, Ellison banned from company roles for decade By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De 3 hours ago Three of Sam Bankman-Fried's top lieutenants atop the former FTX empire — Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh — agreed to consent judgments. What to know : The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it's resolved its cases against three of the top figures in the FTX collapse, including Alameda Reserve CEO Caroline Ellison. The former FTX executives will face certain limits on their professional lives under the agreements, assuming they're approved in court. 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