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Crypto regulations must be enacted through an act of Congress to become permanent and meaningful pieces of legislation, according to former Congressman Wiley Nickel.
In an exclusive video interview with Cointelegraph's Turner Wright, Nickel urged <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/maxine-waters-bipartisan-stablecoin-legislation" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">bipartisan collaboration</a> to push through comprehensive crypto regulations. The former Congressman added:
<blockquote>
 "I think it's really important for anybody who cares about this issue to step back and realize that if you want lasting change in Washington, you must move legislation through Congress. Otherwise, if you're talking about executive orders, it will just go back and forth.”
</blockquote>
“You don’t want to have the mess that we saw just months ago with Gary Gensler’s SEC — you need to get legislation through Congress,” Nickel reiterated.
President Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-working-group-crypto" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">establishing the Working Group on Digital Assets</a>, which also prohibited the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and the order <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/donald-trump-signs-executive-order-strategic-bitcoin-reserve" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">establishing a Bitcoin strategic reserve</a> alongside a separate crypto stockpile, were both examples of executive actions that can be reversed at a later date.
<figure>
 <img alt="Congress, Senate, Bitcoin Regulation, US Government, United States" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-03/0195b048-91fd-7c72-bdc8-6d9c60012e36" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Former Congressman Wiley Nickel is pictured sitting second from the left at the Blockworks Digital Asset Summit. Source: Cointelegraph
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/congress-stablecoin-market-structure-bills-august-blockchain-association" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Congress on track for stablecoin, market structure bills by August: Blockchain Association</a>
<h2 id="both-chambers-of-congress-rush-to-push-through-meaningful-legislation">Both chambers of Congress rush to push through meaningful legislation</h2>
Rep. Tom Emmer, the majority whip of the United States House of Representatives, reintroduced legislation <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/tom-emmer-cbdc-bill-donald-trump-executive-order" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">banning a CBDC in the US</a> on March 6.
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis also <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/senator-cynthia-lummis-new-bitcoin-act-one-million-btc" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">reintroduced the Bitcoin Act</a> in March, which builds upon an earlier bill of the same title but allows the US to purchase more than 1 million Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>).
<figure>
 <img alt="Congress, Senate, Bitcoin Regulation, US Government, United States" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-03/0195b049-954e-72f7-bdbc-682bd331e079" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Senator Lummis’ Bitcoin Act of 2025. Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.lummis.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BITCOINAct.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://www.lummis.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BITCOINAct.pdf">Senator Cynthia Lummis</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Rep. Byron Donalds recently announced that he would draft legislation to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-bitcoin-reserve-bill-congress" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">codify the Bitcoin strategic reserve</a> into law — shielding President Trump’s original executive order from being overturned by a future administration.
On March 12, the House of Representatives <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/congress-repealed-irs-broker-rule-regulate-defi" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">repealed the IRS broker rule</a> requiring decentralized finance platforms to report information to the Internal Revenue Service in a 292-131 vote.
Speaking at this year’s Blockworks Digital Asset Summit, Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna said that Congress should be able to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoin-market-structure-bills-done-this-year-rep-khanna" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">pass comprehensive crypto regulation</a> in 2025, including a stablecoin bill and a market structure bill.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/sec-crypto-laws-unclear/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered</a>

Crypto regulation must go through Congress for lasting change — Wiley Nickel

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