• According to Senator Cynthia Lummis, stablecoins will allow employees to receive payments almost instantly.
  • She said digital assets could significantly reduce the cost of cross-border payments.
  • Senator Elizabeth Warren is reportedly set to chair the Senate Banking Committee next year.

As the crypto regulatory debate heads into a new political chapter, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) defended stablecoins on Tuesday as a way to make financial services more affordable, while taking aim at Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) over her opposition to crypto.

Lummis explained on X that payroll processing currently takes five days on average. “Stablecoins [will] permit employers to pay their employees nearly instantly,” she wrote. “For most Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, getting paid 5 days earlier is a big deal.”

She also pointed to big banks charging “nearly 15% to send $200 overseas,” while the transfer could take days or weeks. “Digital assets spare its customers many of the unnecessary fees and can move the funds nearly instantly, any day of the week,” Lummis wrote.

Lummis Takes Aim At Warren

Lummis’ response came as Warren is reportedly set to become chair of the Senate Banking Committee when Democrats take control of Congress next year. Lummis took a strike at that, saying, “Ultimately, digital assets have made a clear case, but she just keeps voting against them and the rules of the road she claims she wants, because she actually wants to kill crypto,” she wrote.

She also accused Warren of shielding bank fees. “For someone who claims to champion affordability and hates junk fees, she sure loves protecting them,” Lummis said.

According to a report by Politico, Warren was also preparing a broad policy and oversight agenda for when she takes over the Banking Committee. As chair, she would oversee a portfolio that covered banking, housing, the Federal Reserve and cryptocurrency, the report said.

CLARITY Act Stalled

The exchange came amidst a broader debate over U.S. crypto legislation and stablecoins' role in the financial system.

Although stablecoins already have a federal rulebook with the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law in July last year, the wider market-structure bill has not moved ahead.

Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY ACT), which seeks to establish a broader framework for digital assets and clarify the regulatory responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) failed to advance in the Senate in September, falling short of the 60 votes needed.

Warren has criticized the bill multiple times before. When the Senate Banking Committee began debating it in May, she said it was “just not ready” and had been written “by the crypto industry for the crypto industry,” while Lummis defended the bill then as a bipartisan effort. Warren has however, expressed willingness to work with lawmakers and the crypto industry on a regulatory framework.

Bitcoin Slide Continues

Bitcoin (BTC), the apex cryptocurrency, remained under pressure, as U.S. inflation data ran above economists’ expectations, and traders boosted bets that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates next month.

Bitcoin’s price was trading at $73,607, down 2% at the time of writing. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BTC moved to ‘extremely bearish’ from the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it shifted to ‘normal’ from ‘high’ over the past day.

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