US Cannot Afford to Fall Behind China and Europe, Says Lummis

Speaking on the state of U.S. crypto policy, Senator Lummis, one of Washington’s most vocal advocates for bitcoin and digital assets, framed global competition in stark terms. According to the Senator, both China and Europe are leveraging blockchain and digital asset frameworks to challenge American financial leadership, and the U.S. risks ceding ground if it does not move decisively on legislation. “This is our last chance to pass the Clarity Act until at least 2030. We can’t afford to surrender America’s financial future,” Lummis said last month.

On the China front, concerns pertain to Beijing’s digital yuan initiative, a central bank digital currency ( CBDC) designed to challenge the dollar’s reserve currency status in cross-border trade corridors, particularly across Southeast Asia and Africa. The digital yuan has expanded its cross-border pilot programs, having processed nearly $55B by early 2026, per reports.

Europe, for its part, has moved ahead with its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation framework, which took full effect in late 2024 and has given European-licensed crypto firms a degree of regulatory clarity that U.S. companies still largely lack.

MiCA has attracted several major exchanges and stablecoin issuers to establish European entities, routing business and compliance infrastructure away from the U.S. while American lawmakers continue to debate jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

US Legislative Response and Geopolitical Urgency

Lummis’s comments come as the U.S. Senate works on two parallel tracks of crypto legislation, with the GENIUS Act, focusing on stablecoin issuance standards, and the broader CLARITY Act, aiming to define digital asset classification, both of which are advancing through committee.

Lummis has championed several of these bills and even indicated she expects progress before the end of 2026. The Senator has also repeatedly touched on the strategic bitcoin reserve concept, the idea that the U.S. Treasury should accumulate bitcoin as a long-term sovereign asset. She argues that the policy rationale mirrors the broader geopolitical urgency she outlined.