Crypto has a dilemma in the Republican-run Senate.
The GOP chair of the Senate Banking Committee needs several Democrats to approve an effort to integrate the crypto industry into the financial system.
The chair of the NRSC, meanwhile, wants to wipe Senate Democrats off the map in the 2026 midterms.
Both roles belong to the same man: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). The question is whether those jobs can coexist for one lawmaker in the midst of high-stakes policy negotiations.
Campaign conundrum. The Senate failed to advance the GENIUS Act last week, despite significant bipartisan support.
Much finger-pointing followed. But no senator or outside group went quite as far as the NRSC.
A statement from NRSC Executive Director Jennifer DeCasper – Scott’s former chief of staff and long-time confidant – declared that “Republican leadership is the only path to real crypto wins in Congress … Anyone backing Senate Democrats in hopes of crypto progress is ignoring reality.”
The implications weren’t lost on Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who led the DSCC for the 2024 cycle. The crypto-backed campaign finance network Fairshake spent big in 2024 and is poised to do so again in 2026.
Crypto “will reward people who vote with them, and they will punish people who don’t vote with them,” Peters said.
Peters argued Scott’s twin roles constituted “major conflicts of interest.”
In a statement, Senate Banking Committee spokesperson Jeff Naft said Scott “has been committed to working in a bipartisan manner to advance a regulatory framework for digital assets, and he’s delivered results with the GENIUS Act – only for Democrats to play politics at the finish line.”
No worries! A number of senators said they’re not sweating Scott’s approach. “Sen. Scott really does want to get this done, and I think we will get it done,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said.
And Scott isn’t the only campaign chair involved in the negotiations. The bill’s lead Democratic co-sponsor, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), chairs the DSCC.
We asked Gillibrand whether it was a problem that Scott was straddling leadership of both Senate Banking and the NRSC.
“I can’t speak for the chairman, but I’m optimistic we will get good legislation done soon,” Gillibrand said of Scott. The New York Democrat dismissed the dilemma of working on policy with Republicans while trying to defeat them in elections as “unrelated and irrelevant.”
Tactics, tactics. Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), one of the lead GOP negotiators, said the talks are a “delicate dance,” but Scott is giving her and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) room to negotiate.
“He’ll come into the room, set the stage, say, ‘this is my bottom line. This is what I feel I have to have, and beyond that, work it out.’ And then he kind of leaves it to us,” Lummis said.
