Podcast: Senator Lummis on Why the Infrastructure Bill Kills Innovation

Jason and Senator Lummis talk bout the proposed infrastructure bill and the impact it could have on bitcoin and innovation at-large.

article-image

US Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)

share

In the latest episode of Blockworks’ podcast “Empire,” Jason Yanowitz , co-founder of Blockworks, sits down with US Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) to talk about the proposed infrastructure bill and the negative effects the bill could have for bitcoin, digital assets and innovation.

This is a shorter episode than usual as Senator Lummis had less than 30 minutes to record between votes.

Senator Lummis and Jason talk about:

  • Impact of inflation
  • Increasing national debt
  • Fiscal policy
  • The infrastructure bill
  • Knowledge of BTC in the Senate
  • Regulation vs innovation

Check out what they had to say in the video below. 👇

On “Empire,” once a week, Jason interviews individuals that have built the crypto industry to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of “Empire” like a “How I Built This” for the bitcoin and crypto industry.

Episodes are released every Thursday morning. 

Subscribe to Empire today on Apple or Spotify. Watch episodes on YouTube.

Tags

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

Unlocked by Template (7).png

Research

Union’s improvements upon Tendermint consensus through CometBLS, coupled with ZK proving through Galois, allow for a broadly scalable, cost efficient, and low latency IBC implementation that is feasibly scalable across every existing blockchain, virtual machine and runtime. The implementation offers modular crosschain interoperability without the need for trusted intermediaries.  

article-image

35% of admitted teams are building AI apps, while 30% are using stablecoins

article-image

Those in the US who preregistered for the app got $150 worth of WLD

article-image

The L2 chain with opt-in privacy features was eight years in the making

article-image

Bitcoin stands on the shoulders of these Cypherpunk giants

article-image

Unto’s Will Yoo and Liam Heeger spoke to the Empire newsletter about their raise and how they plan to build Thru

article-image

Greater efficiency, William Jevons predicted, would lead to even greater consumption