Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the chief U.S. critics of the crypto industry, confirmed she'd be taking the role as the most senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
That panel will be responsible for handling crypto legislation in the coming months.
If Democrats can manage to wrest back Senate control in two years, she could become the committee's next chairwoman.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has long been held up as the crypto industry's chief opponent in Congress, and she's now ascending to the role as the top Democrat in the Senate Banking Committee, where she'll be heard from on the digital assets legislation that likely needs a sign-off from that panel.
The Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee has been under the chairmanship of Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat that the cryptocurrency industry spent tens of millions of dollars on defeating in this month's elections. In his tenure, Brown allowed no significant legislative debate on digital assets legislation, though even as he ran the committee, Massachusetts Democrat Warren often managed to be the more prominent naysayer on crypto matters. Now that the Republicans won the Senate majority and will take the gavel, Warren confirmed she'll step up as the ranking Democrat there.
"This new role means a better chance to advance solutions like building more housing to lower prices and protecting consumers from private equity greed and special interest scams," she said in a Wednesday statement.
While the Republicans will control the committee's agenda and hearing schedule, she'll have a prominent platform to criticize the group's work on crypto, which she has often argued is riddled with criminality and has introduced legislation to try to apply tight U.S. constraints on the sector.
Warren just won a third term in office, opposed by a prominent crypto lawyer, John Deaton, who only managed to secure 40% of the vote.
Control of the Senate could possibly change hands again in two years. In midterm elections, the sitting president's party usually experiences setbacks in its Senate strength, and the 2026 contest will see far more Republicans' seats up for grabs than Democrats' seats. If Democrats do reclaim the majority, Warren would likely become the chair of the committee, where she would set the direction and tone for crypto legislation past that point.
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