Crypto industry's lobbying hit a record in 2023 - and is off to a strong start in 2024

By Victor Reklaitis

Coinbase and Blockchain Association were the cryptocurrency sector's biggest spenders on lobbying last year

The cryptocurrency industry's spending on Washington lobbying rose to a fresh record again last year - with companies and trade associations shelling out nearly $25 million, beating 2022's total of more than $22 million.

The crypto industry has also started out 2024 with further sizable spending on lobbying, making an outlay in the first quarter of $5.6 million, as shown in the chart below.

That's all according to an analysis of disclosures by OpenSecrets, which rounded up filings by more than 50 industry players.

The efforts to influence Congress and the Biden administration come as U.S. lawmakers have shown signs that they might be closer to creating a new regulatory framework for digital assets.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission in January approved exchange-traded funds investing directly in bitcoin (BTCUSD), the largest and best-known cryptocurrency.

Though the crypto industry's spending on lobbying is growing, the amounts shelled out still fall well short of 2023 outlays by Washington's biggest lobbying organizations, which last year were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Realtors. The Chamber paid out about $70 million for lobbying in 2023, ahead of the NAR's $52 million, according to OpenSecrets, which is a research group tracking money in American politics.

The table below, also based on OpenSecrets data, shows 2023 lobbying spending by individual organizations that aimed to influence Washington on crypto-related issues, displaying the top 20 spenders on such matters. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) paid out the most, followed by the Blockchain Association.

   Name                            2023 lobbying spending 
   Coinbase                        $2,860,000.00 
   Blockchain Assn                 $1,960,000.00 
   iFinex Inc                      $1,240,000.00 
   Binance Holdings                $1,215,000.00 
   Payward Inc                     $1,184,000.00 
   Foris DAX                       $1,090,000.00 
   Ripple                          $940,000.00 
   Crypto Council for Innovation   $890,000.00 
   Stellar Development Foundation  $760,000.00 
   DeFi Education Fund             $750,000.00 
   Paradigm Operations             $690,000.00 
   TaxBit Inc                      $680,000.00 
   Coin Center                     $610,000.00 
   Paxos Trust Co                  $590,000.00 
   Digital Currency Group          $510,000.00 
   Riot Platforms                  $470,000.00 
   Ava Labs                        $460,000.00 
   Bitcoin Assn                    $440,000.00 
   Blockchains LLC                 $400,000.00 
   Anchor Labs                     $400,000.00 

-Victor Reklaitis

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05-10-24 0800ET

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