Today in crypto: Pro-crypto US Sen. Cynthia Lummis said she plans to leave Congress in 2027, Coinbase sued three US states in an effort to shield its planned prediction markets from regulatory action, and the US Senate confirmed pro-crypto leadership at two key federal agencies.
Pro-crypto US Senator Lummis won’t seek reelection in 2026
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the most outspoken advocates for digital assets in the current session of the US Congress, will leave office in 2027.
In a Friday X post, Lummis announced that she would not seek reelection to the Senate in 2026. She was elected to a six-year term and assumed office in January 2021, quickly establishing herself as a blockchain and Bitcoin-focused politician who later aligned with US President Donald Trump’s crypto agenda.
“Deciding not to run for reelection 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,” said Lummis. “I am a devout legislator, but I feel like a sprinter in a marathon. The energy required doesn’t match up.”
The Wyoming senator is one of the key Republicans responsible for pushing lawmakers to consider the digital asset market structure bill. The legislation, which passed the House of Representatives in July, has been debated in the Senate Banking Committee, where Lummis holds a seat, as well as the Senate Agriculture Committee. However, the bill had not been scheduled for a floor vote before the chamber broke for the holidays.
Coinbase borrows Kalshi’s playbook, sues three states over prediction markets
Coinbase is taking three US states to court in a bid to lock in federal protection for its planned prediction markets, opening a new front in the battle over whether event contracts are finance or gambling.
The exchange has sued regulators in Connecticut, Illinois and Michigan, asking federal judges to declare that prediction markets listed on a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated platform fall under the Commodity Exchange Act and the CFTC’s claimed exclusive jurisdiction, not 50 separate state gambling codes.
In a Friday X post, chief legal officer Paul Grewal said Coinbase filed the cases “to confirm what is clear: prediction markets fall squarely under the jurisdiction of the @CFTC, not any individual state gaming regulator (let alone 50).”
Coinbase frames the dispute as both a legal and structural question. Court filings argue that if each state can independently decide whether federally supervised prediction markets are illegal gambling, the most restrictive regime would effectively become the national standard, “turning our system of federalism upside down.”
Senate confirms Selig for CFTC, Hill for FDIC
The US Senate has confirmed crypto-friendly lawyer Mike Selig as the new chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has elevated Travis Hill to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) in a 53-43 vote on Thursday.
The pair were confirmed in a package of nearly 100 other nominees that the Trump administration had picked for various roles across the government.
The CFTC could soon receive more crypto authority with bills working their way through Congress, and the FDIC is poised to regulate some stablecoin issuers.
Selig’s term will expire in April 2029 once sworn in. He pledged to make crypto a priority when he was nominated in October after he was picked to take over from the previous nominee, Brian Quintenz.
Hill has already been running the FDIC as the acting chairman and has also shared a friendly crypto stance, speaking at Congressional hearings about the alleged debanking of companies due to crypto ties.