Bryan Steil to lead House Subcommittee on Digital Assets and AI

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United States Congressman Bryan Steil (R-WI), a vocal advocate for the digital asset space and “innovation,” has been chosen to lead the House of Representatives Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence in the 119th Congress.

According to a statement released by the Financial Services Committee and its chairman, French Hill (R-AR), on January 9, Rep. Steil will lead the digital assets, FinTech and AI subcommittee in its mission to “create a regulatory framework for digital assets that will protect investors and consumers while keeping innovation in America.”

Another goal of Steil’s tenure will be to “ensure agencies are focused on their core statutory directed missions and not political agendas that we have seen from many of the Biden-Harris agency leads,” added Hill.

Over the past few years, the subcommittee has held a number of significant hearings focused on digital assets and has been instrumental in progressing legislative efforts in the area.

The most notable bills to emerge from the subcommittee are the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), which passed a full U.S. House of Representatives vote in May, and the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2023, which passed Committee stage last July.

The former aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S. and clarify the responsibilities of the country’s two principal finance sector regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); meanwhile, the latter would create a regulatory framework for the issuance and oversight of payment stablecoins.

Rep. Steil voted for both FIT21 and the stablecoin bill as a member of the House Financial Services Committee, in which he is currently serving his fourth term. He has also previously served as a member of the subcommittee on digital assets, FinTech and AI.

Significantly—and in keeping with many of his Republican colleagues—Steil has been a vocal advocate for the digital asset space and critic of the current regulatory approach to the area in the U.S., particularly that of outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler.

Industry advocacy group ‘Stand with Crypto’ gave Steil an “A” grade for his stance on digital assets, citing the bills he voted for as well as a number of his previous comments, including a September 2024 post on X stating that “digital assets regulations are important to ensure development in the U.S. Not pushing opportunities overseas.”

However, while being a vocal supporter of the digital asset space, Steil has also bemoaned the excessive congressional airtime debates around the sector. During a May 2024 meeting of the Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Steil prefaced his question time by complaining that the subcommittee “might as well be renamed the Digital Assets Subcommittee rather than Capital Markets.”

In his statement, Steil pronounced that “innovation in the financial services sector provides an exciting opportunity for consumers and entrepreneurs, as technologies like financial apps, digital assets, and machine learning revolutionize our economy.”

He added that he looked forward “to building on the important work this subcommittee completed under Chairman Hill as we continue to provide the rules of the road to move our economy into the future.”

Rep. Hill, who previously led the digital asset subcommittee and was voted by Republicans to lead the full House Financial Services Committee in December, praised Steil as a “leader in his time in Congress, both on our Committee and as House Administration Committee Chairman.”

“I am delighted he will take over my role as Digital Assets Subcommittee Chairman for the 119th Congress and be a leader in continuing our work to create a regulatory framework for digital assets that will protect consumers and investors while keeping the United States a leader in innovation in the digital assets ecosystem,” added Hill.

New full committee chair

For his part, Rep. Hill is also a noted crypto supporter, and his appointment as chair of the full House Financial Services Committee confirmed its recent revolving door of ‘pro-crypto’ leadership as he replaced fellow vocal advocate Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who announced early December that he would be stepping down from Congress.

During his tenure, Hill was instrumental in shaping U.S. policy on emerging financial technologies, as well as advocating for ‘clear’ regulatory frameworks that foster innovation. Specifically, he was a core supporter of the FIT Act and the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act.

Hill is also a known critic of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and helped pass the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act on May 23. The bill still faces a vote in the Senate, but if passed, it would prevent the issuance of a CBDC without the explicit authorization of Congress.

In a pre-vote debate on the bill, Hill invoked China’s digital yuan as a cautionary tale about the dangers of state surveillance and the potential for government abuse of a CBDC, saying, “We live in a world where the government can abuse the tools it has.”

In September, he opened a hearing titled “Decoding DeFi: Breaking Down the Future of Decentralized Finance” by reiterating the Republican “pro-innovation”—read “pro-crypto”—approach to financial regulation.

“As we consider how blockchains can be used in finance, we must continue expanding our knowledge of the possible costs and benefits as it relates to DeFi,” said Hill. “Substituting intermediaries for autonomous, self-executing code, decentralized finance can shift the way the financial markets and transactions are currently structured and governed.”

With Hill chairing the House Financial Services Committee and Steil now chairing the subcommittee on digital assets, FinTech and AI, the Trump 2.0 crypto-backing stance looks set to have significant legislative support in 2025.

Watch: Reggie Middleton on DeFi, booms/busts & crypto regulation