The US crypto industry is hopeful that regulatory uncertainties will be clarified after Republicans elected South Dakota Senator John Thune as the new Senate majority leader.

Thune defeated Rick Scott, supported by Musk, in the election held on November 13.

“We will simplify the bureaucratic structure and eliminate the costly regulations of the Biden-Harris administration to make America prosperous again,” Thune said in his victory speech.

While Thune stated that he is ready to implement the agenda of crypto-friendly President-elect Donald Trump, the crypto community is also hopeful of the new leader’s contributions to crypto-friendly regulations in the USA.

There are strong signs that Thune may advocate crypto-friendly policies.

Thune, who has previously advocated expanding the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) authority over crypto regulations, positioned it as an alternative to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) stricter approach.

In 2022, Thune co-introduced the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA), which aims to increase the CFTC’s authority over crypto regulations.

This bill defined major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether as digital commodities, highlighting the authorization of the CFTC as the regulatory authority. This step was seen as an alternative to the SEC’s excessive use of authority in crypto regulations.

While some crypto advocates called this bill an “important step” toward resolving crypto regulatory uncertainty, they noted that more study and clarification is needed.

In May, Thune cited the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 1, which requires crypto custody providers to record customer assets as liabilities on their balance sheets. He also supported the vote to repeal 121 (SAB 121).

Thune’s stance on this issue led Coinbase’s lobby group “Stand With Crypto” to describe him as a “strong crypto supporter.”

“Thune is very pro-crypto,” Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on November 13.

However, despite his strong support for Trump’s priorities, it was stated that President-elect Trump did not support any candidate in the majority leadership race. It is known that Thune criticized Trump in the 2016 presidential race.

On the other hand, some of Trump’s allies — Tesla CEO Musk, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — He had endorsed Scott of Florida in the race for Senate majority leadership.

Scott had previously worked with pro-crypto Senator Cynthia Lummis on a bill that would allow US retirement plans to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.