Crypto-focused lawmaker wants to lead House Financial Services Committee in 2025

House Financial Services Committee Vice Chair French Hill plans to take over committee leadership following Patrick McHenry’s departure in January 2025.
House Financial Services Committee Vice Chair French Hill plans to take over committee leadership following Patrick McHenry’s departure in January 2025.

Arkansas Representative French Hill, who chairs the United States House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, plans to take over leadership of the full committee following Patrick McHenry’s departure.

According to a March 17 Punchbowl News report, Hill is one of the contenders to chair the full financial services committee starting in January 2025, when McHenry’s term will end. McHenry announced in December 2023 that he did not plan to seek reelection after 20 years in office.

Hill has chaired the digital assets subcommittee since its creation in January 2023 and serves as vice chair of the full House committee. Under his and McHenry’s leadership, the committee has conducted hearings into crypto-related issues, including the financing of terrorism and money laundering.

“Rep. Hill has been visiting with his colleagues about the possibility of seeking the House Financial Services chairmanship since Chairman McHenry announced he is not seeking reelection,” Brooke Nethercott, Hill’s communications director, told Cointelegraph. “Drawing on these conversations, as well as his four decades of public and private sector experience in financial services, Rep. Hill has decided he will seek the committee chairmanship.”

Related: US lawmakers push back on proposed CFPB rule, citing potential impact on crypto

The leadership of the House committee will depend on whether Republican lawmakers maintain a majority in the chamber following the 2024 elections in the United States. Control of the House of Representatives, Senate, and the presidency is all up for grabs between Democratic and Republican lawmakers. In a January 2024 interview, Hill said he hoped certain crypto bills would pass the full committee by the end of the year. 

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Update (March 18 at 8:44 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from French Hill’s office.