ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, U.S. Senator John Thune, who has previously supported cryptocurrency-related legislation, has been elected as the majority leader of the U.S. Senate for next year. The Republican from South Dakota was elected during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.Thune currently serves as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for tax and revenue matters. In 2022, he co-sponsored a cryptocurrency bill called the "Digital Goods Consumer Protection Act" along with several other senators.The bill aims to establish a legal definition for digital goods and place their trading under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Thune also voted in May to support a measure aimed at overturning the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121).

ChainCatcher News, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren defeated cryptocurrency-supporting Republican candidate John Deaton in the Senate race, winning the election in Massachusetts on Tuesday evening.This will be Warren's fourth term in the U.S. Senate. She is a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, the latter of which has jurisdiction over the U.S. SEC and CFTC. Warren has consistently criticized the cryptocurrency industry and supports an anti-money laundering bill that would extend the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (including KYC rules) to miners, validators, and wallet providers.

ChainCatcher News: U.S. Democratic Senator Warren calls for the Federal Reserve to implement a 50 basis point rate cut.

ChainCatcher news, in a recent debate, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized lawyer John Deaton, claiming that 90% of his campaign funding comes from cryptocurrency, and accused him of having 100% loyalty to cryptocurrency in Washington, implying that this is a corrupt practice.Warren reiterated her concerns about the association of cryptocurrency with illegal activities and called for increased regulation. Multiple polls show that Warren is leading Deaton by about 20 percentage points ahead of the November election, with early voting set to begin on October 19.

ChainCatcher news, U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty, who supports cryptocurrency, has released a legislative discussion draft aimed at creating a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which is very similar to the ongoing work in the House of Representatives. Republican Hagerty stated in a press release on Thursday that his legislative draft "provides much-needed regulatory clarity." The draft is very close to the "Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act" drafted in the House by Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry and Democrat Maxine Waters.Hagerty's draft adopts the structure of the House bill while dividing federal regulation into the Federal Reserve's oversight of banks and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's oversight of non-bank entities. The draft will include a provision that issuers exceeding a $10 billion threshold may receive exemptions from federal regulators and continue to be governed by their respective states. The legislative draft also includes maintaining dollar-denominated foreign exchange reserves on a one-to-one basis.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, anti-crypto U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and crypto-friendly Republican candidate John Deaton will hold two debates on October 15 and October 17 ahead of the 2024 election. New England Public Media and GBH News will host the debate between the two Senate candidates in Springfield on October 17, and Warren and Deaton will also debate on WSBK-TV in Boston on October 15. It is currently unclear whether digital assets will be a topic of debate between the two candidates. GBH News has stated that it will not share these topics in advance.During her tenure, Warren has been outspoken in her criticism of cryptocurrencies, linking digital assets to funding illegal activities. Deaton is a lawyer who supports Ripple and other crypto companies facing lawsuits from the U.S. SEC. Several polls in September showed Warren leading Deaton by more than 20 percentage points, and many expect this to be a referendum on cryptocurrency policy. Deaton stated on social media that the SEC is "pushing an anti-crypto agenda" through enforcement actions and criticized SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, Ohio Senator Niraj Antani has proposed a bill to legalize cryptocurrency payments for state and local taxes.It is reported that the bill emphasizes the importance of cryptocurrency in the current economy, requiring Ohio to accept digital currencies like Bitcoin and allowing the state pension system to invest in these currencies. Antani highlighted Ohio's historical role in the adoption of cryptocurrency.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin Magazine, Ohio Senator Niraj Antani has introduced a bill proposing that Ohio accept Bitcoin for tax payments.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptoslate, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming believes that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler may resign from his position at the regulatory agency next year. She made the remarks on CNBC's Squawk Box on September 27, in response to the host stating that Gensler "loves this job" and does not want to leave it. She added, "I don't believe that will happen, especially if Trump is elected president." However, she also stated that she could not confirm if the same would be true if Vice President Kamala Harris were elected.Additionally, Lummis stated that Gensler does not "fully recognize" that Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities. Lummis further indicated that other cryptocurrencies may be commodities, but did not specify: "We need to have a clear definition. We can use the Howey test, and as it gets updated, there may be other assets besides Bitcoin and Ethereum that qualify for the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission."It is worth noting that Gensler reiterated on September 26 during his appearance on Squawk Box that the SEC views Bitcoin as a commodity. However, during the congressional hearing on September 24, he did not comment on the status of Ethereum.

ChainCatcher news, according to FOX Business, U.S. Senator Tim Scott criticized SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for delaying the scheduled Senate Banking Committee hearing.Scott stated that Gensler's regulatory agenda is detrimental to the U.S. economy, increasing burdens on businesses, reducing opportunities for capital acquisition, and harming the interests of American retirement savers. Republican lawmakers have introduced the Empowering Main Street in America Act, which requires the SEC chairman to testify before Congress twice a year to enhance transparency and accountability.

ChainCatcher news, many investors and some economists are concerned that the Federal Reserve has waited too long, putting the labor market and economic growth on thin ice, and injecting volatility into the financial markets. The latter was evident in last Friday's U.S. Treasury market, when traders suddenly resumed bets on a 50 basis point rate cut. The presidential election in November has also put the Federal Reserve's decision-making in an uncomfortable position. Republican candidate and former President Trump warned that the Federal Reserve should not cut rates before the election, while Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren pressured officials to lower rates by 75 basis points.

ChainCatcher news, according to Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett, Senator Chuck Schumer sent a letter to his Senate colleagues mentioning the priorities for bipartisan legislation in the remaining months of Congress. Cryptocurrency legislation was not mentioned, but artificial intelligence was listed as a priority. This contrasts with his assertion during the Crypto4Harris town hall that cryptocurrency legislation would be an urgent priority.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin Magazine on the X platform, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that her "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve" bill is "the only viable solution that can reduce the national debt of the United States by half by 2045."

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated on Wednesday that the window for cryptocurrency legislation in 2024 is closing, but there is still a possibility of passing some bills this year.During a brief appearance at SALT, Lummis and Scott also called on voters, stating that Republicans are more supportive of the interests of the cryptocurrency industry than Democrats. Scott, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has rarely spoken out on cryptocurrency during his tenure as a senior member of the committee. However, at last month's Bitcoin Nashville conference, he called for more lenient regulators and stated that he would support crypto-friendly legislation.If control of the Senate falls into Republican hands, Scott would become the chairman. On Wednesday, he suggested that if he were to hold that position, there could be a subcommittee focused on digital assets, "so we can make the dialogue clearer, hold more hearings on the banking industry, and get our work done faster. We will go further and faster in a shorter amount of time."

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, U.S. Senate Majority Leader and New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer spoke at the Crypto4Harris conference on Wednesday, promising to pass cryptocurrency legislation by the end of this year. During the live broadcast of the conference, Schumer stated that without action, "cryptocurrency risks flowing overseas to countries with no regulatory standards at all."The theme of the event was to "restart" the dialogue with Vice President Kamala Harris and the future Harris administration—emphasizing that the crypto space does not belong to any one party.

ChainCatcher news, Forbes reporter Eleanor Terrett stated on X that New York Senator Chuck Schumer revealed his goals regarding cryptocurrency regulation. He hopes to model it after AI regulation and aims to get some cryptocurrency bills passed in the Senate by the end of the year and become law.Chuck Schumer said: "My goal is to get some bills passed in the Senate and become law by the end of this year, and I believe we can achieve this goal. I think we should strike a balance between promoting innovation and providing common-sense guardrails for cryptocurrency. This is similar to our approach to another innovative technology, artificial intelligence. When it comes to artificial intelligence or cryptocurrency, we also need to provide some guardrails to ensure user safety, protect our national security, and ensure that this technology is not abused by criminal organizations or other malicious actors at the expense of the public good. Only Congress has the ability to provide this balanced regulation."

ChainCatcher News, U.S. Senator Vivek Ramaswamy expects Kamala Harris to embrace Bitcoin and the crypto industry.Ramaswamy said: "I think this is a good thing for the country... this shouldn't be a partisan issue."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, five U.S. senators and three House representatives have once again called on the CFTC to ban betting on the 2024 presidential election.In a letter to CFTC Chairman Rostin Benham dated August 5, they stated that such a market "could affect and interfere with elections, further undermining public trust in democracy," urging the swift finalization and implementation of this regulation to prevent the commodification of U.S. elections.The letter was signed by Senators Jeff Merkley, Richard Blumenthal, Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as Representatives Jamie Raskin, John Sarbanes, and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Washington Post, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly will interview for (Harris's) vice presidential position on Sunday.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, within 48 hours, U.S. senators received over 2,200 letters urging them to jointly initiate and support the "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Act" proposed by Cynthia Lummis.Among them, the Democrats received 1,333 letters, the Republicans received 850 letters, and independents received 41 letters.