. >> some lawmakers are not only learning, they're buying senator cynthia lummis holds five bitcoin and senator pat toomey recently disclosed as much as $30,000 of investments in bitcoin and ethereum. both have been vocal advocates for the industry toomey used to be a currency trader and says he got into crypto as a hedge against inflation. >> ylan, how does the spending by the crypto lobby compare with other tech companies it must be dwarfed by the likes of google, facebook, et al. >> absolutely. it's a drop in the bucket compared to what big tech spends google in one quarter will spend $2 million amazon, facebook, spend about $5 million each in the span of one quarter. they don't spend as much money as the big guys but they're looking at what happened to big tech and saying they did not pay attention, they did not engage in washington early on and that's costing them now that we see the backlash in washington so crypto now is trying to get in at an early stage and build those relationships so that what happened to big tech doesn't happen to them >> ylan mui, thank you very much >>> cr

republican senators pat toomey a pennsylvania and cynthia lummis of wyoming announced a bipartisan amendment to the bill , amendment negotiated with the treasury department. here are their remarks. >> senator? there we go. good morning, everybody. i am delighted to announce that we have reached a bipartisan agreement that includes democrats, republicans, members of the senate and the treasury department on an issue that had been vexing us for a while. i want to thank the cosponsors of an amendment i will be filing as soon as the senate opens today. the cosponsors will be senators warner, loomis, portland, and cinema -- sinema. i really appreciate the important work that senator wyden has done along the way as we have wrestled with this issue. there is a broad, maybe universal agreement, that centralized digital asset exchanges working as brokers should be required to report transactions like other brokers already do. the underlying text of the bill attempts to do this, but does it in a way that we believe is significantly flawed. significant text would ensnare people and impose reporting and

senator cynthia lummis our guest and don't miss an exclusive interview with jim chanos. again. how? they have a better finance system than we do. i feel like they might have a better finance system than we do. workday. how do they make better decisions faster? workday. it's got to be something workday. i think i got something. work... hey, rob, you're on mute. hello! hey, rob, there he is. workday. the finance, hr and planning system for a changing world. >>> good morning the senate looking like it's about to pass that $1 trillion infrastructure bill. we are standing by for a vote that could come before noon today. but those that are bullish on digital currencies aren't happy how the final bill is turning out in an attempt to move industry regulations, failing yesterday. we're going to speak with congressional crypto enthusiast senator cynthia lummis, and sounding off on meme stocks. you don't want to miss our conversation with short seller jim chanos the final hour of "squawk box" begins, right now. >>> good morning, and welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm melissa

republican senator couldn't cynthia lummis joins me right now.hite house is extraordinarily upset by amendment authored by you and your colleague toomey and wyden. i find the combination intriguing but i read senator wyden said it is right thing to do to go after the tax part of it but suggests the net is too wide they are trying to cast s that the central question or the central problem here? >> that is the central problem. the definition of broker in the bill would include people in the cryptocurrency space that don't have information toe report to the irs about the ultimate customers or buyer of the digital assets. for example, the people who mine cryptocurrency, the people who validate it, the people who create software and hardware that enables individuals to have digital wallets. these are all people who don't know who the ultimate customer of the cryptocurrency is. so requiring them to report to the irs is nonsensical. i'm a little confused about why the department of treasury or the white house are pushing back on this. we think our amend

wyoming's senator cynthia lummis, while, among thfighting for a crypto amendment the state is bringing thanks to crypto and she says it could be a sandbox for action in d.c. >> there has been a long delay in getting action and we're trying to encourage the fed to move it along so these companies are not burning through their capital trying to get a charter. they can actually begin to conduct business >> wyoming has a history of pioneering new laws. it was the first to have llcs, also the first state to allow women the right to vote. other states are following pretty quickly we have got texas, necbraska, north dakota, illinois passing crypto bills recently. a couple of tech companies we talked to that moved out here say that competition between the states is really a good thing. it puts pressure on some other states to innovate and possibly the fed government at some point. for now they say wyoming has enough of an edge, they don't plan on moving anytime soon. back to you. >> kate, how important is it i mean, you touched on it a little bit but the energy piece of this puzzle whether it'

sin thre cynthia lummis says there is no time on the block. andrew >> where are we? >> reporter: we are where we are when this started. back in the language of the bill that says crypto brokers must follow the enhanced reporting requirements to the irs. attempts to change that by senator warner and senator wyden. the crypto industry has been mad about that because you cannot exempt one part of the industry without the other players. that is what elon musk says that the government is picking winners and losers they want clarification to the bill without amendments, they won't get it >> ylan, i have another one for you that may be more compli complicated. is there any disclosure? do we know how many senators or congress members own crypto currently that may have a vested interest >> reporter: i do not know i don't know, frankly, andrew. i can tell you lummis told me she does own bitcoin there are a lot of provisional confusion issues there is haggling from the lawmakers over the weekend >> thank you we will get the progress from one of the architects of it all. senator