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Lawmaker Tom Emmer Throws Hat in Ring for House Speaker Role
The House hasn't had a speaker since the beginning of October, threatening any further advancement of crypto bills sitting before the legislative body.
Updated Oct 23, 2023, 4:18 p.m. Published Oct 23, 2023, 8:20 a.m.
Congressman Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who's sponsored a number of crypto-related bills over the past few years and is a co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, said Saturday he's making a bid for the vacant Speaker of the House position.
The Speaker of the House runs the House of Representatives, scheduling votes and moving legislation. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took on the role earlier this year, but was ousted earlier this month. Democrat Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the previous Speaker, until her party lost the majority in the 2022 election.
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An individual familiar with the matter told CoinDesk that Emmer, who's currently the majority whip – meaning he's the second-highest ranking member of the House Republican caucus – was making calls for the Speaker on Friday.
Emmer has sponsored legislation that would create crypto-specific definitions for how tokens might fit into existing securities frameworks, as well as to block the issuance of a central bank digital currency. He's signed onto letters and other initiatives similarly pushing clarity for the crypto industry.
Read more: Crypto Needs Congress, But U.S. Lawmakers Have Opted for Pandemonium
The role has been vacant for over two weeks, after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) lost a motion to vacate sponsored by a member of his own party, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
Two candidates have already failed to secure enough votes to win the speakership – Congressmen Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Jordan's bid ended earlier Friday after he lost a third vote in the House (and then a secret caucus vote). A handful of other lawmakers are also running for the position, though the House won't vote on any other candidates until next week.
Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chair of the House Financial Services Committee and Speaker Pro Tempore after McCarthy's ouster, set a tentative Tuesday morning vote. Republican candidates have to confirm their bids by Sunday, and will meet Monday to present their respective cases.
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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Key U.S. Senator on Crypto Bill, Lummis, Negotiating Dicey Points With White House
The Republican lawmaker who is among the core negotiators on the U.S. market structure bill said the White House has rejected some ethics language.
What to know:
- Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said she is negotiating with the White House on behalf of Senate Democrats trying to insert ethics provisions into Congress' market structure legislation.
- Lawmakers should reveal a new draft market structure bill by the end of the week and hold a markup hearing next week, she said.
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