Senator Lummis Discloses Apparent Bitcoin Buy of up to $100,000

Wyoming Republican has been an outspoken supporter of cryptocurrencies in recent months.

article-image

Source: Office of Cynthia Lummis

share

key takeaways

  • The senator’s purchase was from bitcoin brokerage River Financial
  • Lummis was a supporter of an amendment in Congress’s infrastructure bill in August that would exempt hardware wallet makers, cryptocurrency transaction validators, node operators and other non-brokers from tax regulations

One of crypto’s largest supporters in the US Senate has disclosed bitcoin ownership of up to $100,000, according to a filing published Thursday. 

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) spent between $50,001 and $100,000 to buy bitcoin on August 16 from exchange platform River Financial, the document appears to indicate.

Lummis has long advocated for cryptocurrency while many of her fellow senators have spoken out in opposition. 

She, along with Senators Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) teamed up with Democratic senators such as Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to agree on an amendment in Congress’s infrastructure bill in August that would exempt hardware wallet makers, cryptocurrency transaction validators, node operators and other non-brokers from tax regulations.

Despite the efforts, the Senate failed to pass the amendment’s inclusion in the legislation.

During a podcast that month hosted by Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz, Lummis noted that many senators and regulators are “not up to speed” on crypto, which can hinder financial innovation. 

“When I walk around here with books on digital assets and cryptocurrency, colleagues look at me like I’m different, and it’s because they haven’t taken the time to explore this,” she said. “It’s viewed in Washington as a very minor issue within the financial regulatory space, and furthermore they don’t see how fast it’s happening.”

During a June hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Lummis touted digital asset analytics providers, which she said helped law enforcement agencies recover 85% of the digital assets paid in a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline.  She also referenced a report by Chainalysis, which found that the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity was 0.34% in 2020, down from 2.1% the year before.

The comments came at the same hearing during which Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said crypto could pose a danger to consumers.   

“Instead of leaving our financial system at the whims of giant banks, crypto puts the system at the whims of some shadowy, faceless group of super coders and miners,” Warren said at the time, “which doesn’t sound better to me.”

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Maple Finance has successfully navigated significant market challenges through its strategic pivot to secured lending (Maple v2) and the launch of its Syrup product. Syrup has become a primary growth driver, delivering sustainable, outperforming stablecoin yields and rapidly increasing TVL. The upcoming custody-first Bitcoin staking product (istBTC) presents another significant avenue for expansion. Crucially, Maple has achieved operational profitability, a key inflection point that, combined with a fully vested token and active buyback mechanism, strengthens its investment case. While valuation metrics suggest potential undervaluation relative to peers and growth, the primary forward-looking risk identified is the long-term sustainability of its current high-take-rate collateral staking revenue model.

article-image

In 2014, Microsoft virus scanners were detecting viruses in Bitcoin software

article-image

Ledn’s Mauricio Di Bartolomeo explained how this cycle’s been different for the lender

article-image

The shorts looking for funding range from charming animated series to gritty live-action dramas

article-image

Money, it turns out, is emergent, like consciousness

article-image

Bridge flows churn in both directions as risk appetite returns