US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is reportedly attempting to convince her fellow Democrats to support legislation to increase regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies.
In a new interview with Fortune, the New York Senator that she’s hopeful that she can have her bi-partisan cryptocurrency bill heard by a key senate committee.
Gillibrand introduced the bill last year with pro-crypto Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming to clarify regulations around digital assets, but after the FTX scandal, the proposal stalled. A new version of the bill was announced in July.
Gillibrand says Republicans in Congress are more supportive of crypto than Democrats, which Gillibrand says she’s attempting to change.
“I don’t think it has to be a partisan issue. I’m optimistic that through conversation, and through socialization of the ideas that are in our bill, it will become more bipartisan.”
Anti-crypto US Senators are currently serving on the key Senate Banking Committee, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chair Sherrod Brown (R-Ohio).
Gillibrand tells Fortune she is in active discussions with Brown about a compromise to have her bi-partisan bill, called the Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2023, heard by the committee in the spring of next year.
One key provision of the bill is that it would clearly define most digital assets as commodities and put the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in charge of their oversight.
