US Congresspeople Ritchie Torres and Tom Emmer are forming a “Congressional Crypto Caucus” with the goal of advancing crypto-friendly policies in the US House of Representatives. Torres announced the news via his X account on March 3.
The Congressional Crypto Caucus follows the formation of the “Congressional Blockchain Caucus,” another bipartisan group that arose during the later years of the Obama presidency with the goal of understanding blockchain technology.
Source: Ritchie Torres
Compared to the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, the Congressional Crypto Caucus will function “more as a voting bloc to mobilize support for digital asset legislation currently being worked on in the House, including stablecoin and market structure bills,” according to a press release from Emmer’s office.
Currently, the House of Representatives is weighing a draft of a bill that would establish a regulatory framework in the United States for dollar-based stablecoins. US Representatives French Hill and Bryan Steil introduced the bill on Feb. 7. Maxine Waters has also called for support of a stablecoin bill introduced in 2024.
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Steil, the current chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence, said that another market structure bill may be coming up and that it would be a strengthened version of the bipartisan FIT21 bill that the House of Representatives passed in 2024.
Both Torres and Emmer have a history of supporting the crypto industry.
Torres is noted for making the case for digital assets, posting to X about FIT21 after he voted “yes” for the bill:
“It represents a bipartisan effort to regulate the digital assets industry, prevent the next FTX, safeguard consumers, cement the US as a global leader in finance and technology, and promote a secure, innovative, and inclusive financial future.”
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Emmer is the House majority whip and vice chairman of the Digital Assets Subcommittee. He said after being selected for the role, “With President Trump in the White House…we have an excellent opportunity to ensure that the future of digital assets is guided by Americans, with American values.”
The news of the upcoming launch of the bipartisan Congressional Crypto Caucus comes as more tailwinds for crypto come out of Washington.
On March 2, President Donald Trump posted that his Working Group on Digital Assets had been directed to include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) in the US strategic crypto reserve. Trump will host the first White House Crypto Summit on March 7.
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