With his first year in Congress complete and his last year ahead (he’s running for Senate in 2026), Rep. Wiley Nickel (D, NC) has been a consistent supporter of potentially transformative bills from the House Financial Services (HFS) Committee, which he joined at the beginning of the 118th Congress.
The digital asset market structure bill known as “Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act” [H.R. 4763], included early support from Rep. Nickel where he eventually voted with five Democrats and all of the Committee’s Republicans to support the bill during a July HFS markup.
In another July HFS markup, Rep. Nickel was one of 5 Democrats – along with the majority Republicans – who supported a long-awaited stablecoin bill, “Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2023” [H.R. 4766]. Both bills now move to the House Floor for a vote.
Rep. Nickel spoke with blockchain tipsheet in Washington D.C. this week to discuss Congress and digital assets including:
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- Learnings during his first year
- The Bitcoin ETFs and regulators
- Partisanship and the Democratic Party
- Anti-Money Laundering
- His constituency and digital assets
- Stablecoin and market structure bills
- The importance of Congressional staff
- 2026 Senate run, his platform and digital assets
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
blockchain tipsheet: What’s surprised you the most in your first year of Congress?
Rep. Wiley Nickel: It’s been a great first year in Congress. The surprise for me has just been how much I like the people I serve with – the absolutely amazing people that you don’t really hear about. They’re not the people on the far left or the far right. They are people who care about their country, they are working hard – in my experience – behind the scenes and it’s very different from what the public sees. I think there are a lot of people that that are very serious about trying to work together. And I think the Financial Services Committee is one of the few committees that’s really going to move some good bipartisan bills through the House and signed into law. Continue reading “Interview: Rep. Wiley Nickel Sees ‘Big Impact’ Ahead With Digital Assets”