The crypto industry’s annual spending on lobbying in Washington more than doubles
By Victor Reklaitis
Cryptocurrency industry lobbying spending rises to $21.55 million in 2022
The cryptocurrency industry sharply increased its annual spending on lobbying in Washington last year, shelling out more than ever before — $21.55 million.
This is according to an analysis of disclosures by OpenSecrets, which rounded up disclosures from more than 50 industry players.
2022’s spending was more than double the crypto industry’s lobbying outlay of $8.29 million for 2021, as shown in the chart below.
The upturn came during a year when the industry suffered a black eye thanks to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in November.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently awaiting trial on fraud charges, had been a megadonor for the 2022 midterm elections, but politicians have ended up returning or giving away campaign contributions tied to FTX.
Campaign contributions are not considered lobbying, although donors make them to build relationships with policymakers.
Bitcoin, the most famous virtual currency, lost more than 60% in 2022, but it has increased in 2023.
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While the crypto industry’s lobbying spending is growing, the amounts paid out by individual companies and trade groups fall far short of lobbying spending by major Washington players. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and its subsidiaries, for example, paid out $21.38 million in 2022, according to an analysis by OpenSecrets, a research group that tracks money in U.S. politics.
From the MarketWatch Archives (February 2022): Congressional Crypto Traders: The US Lawmakers Who Buy and Sell Digital Currencies
The table below, also based on OpenSecrets data, shows the 2022 lobbying expenditures of companies that aimed to influence Washington on crypto-related issues. Coinbase (COIN) paid out the most, followed by the Blockchain Association.
Name 2022 lobbying spending Coinbase $3,390,000 Blockchain Assn $1,900,000 Crypto.com $1,180,000 Binance Holdings $1,110,000 Ripple $1,080,000 Chamber of Digital Commerce $936,406 DeFi Education Fund $930,000 Dapper Labs $880,000 FTX.US $720,000 Taxbit Inc $520,000 Tether Operations $480,000 Stellar Development Foundation $460,000 Payward Inc $440,000 Digital Currency Group $440,000 Chainalysis Inc $430,000 Vaultlink Inc $360,000 Crypto Council for Innovation $350,000 Chia Network $340,000 Bitcoin Assn $340,000 Coinflip $320,000 Ava Labs $300,000 Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Assn $280,000 Riot Blockchain $280,000 Anchor Labs $250,000 Gemini Trust Co $240,000 Paxos Trust Co $220,000 Saito Tech $200,000 Algorand Inc $200,000 Blockchains LLC $195,000 Association for Digital Asset Markets $190,000 Galaxy Digital Holdings $190,000 Bullish US $180,000 Stone Ridge $180,000 Celo Foundation $176,500 Bitwise Asset Management $160,000 Overstock.com $160,000 Filecoin Foundation $150,000 Applied Blockchain $150,000 ConsenSys Software $150,000 OpenSea $140,000 Uniswap Labs $130,000 Proof of Trust $120,000 Marathon Digital Holdings $120,000 Paradigm Operations $100,000 Proof of Stake Alliance $100,000 Hive Blockchain Technologies $80,000 Brale Inc $80,000 LMAX Group $70,000 Exodus Movement $70,000 BlockFi International $40,000 Bit5ive LLC $22,500 Genrae $20,000 Source: OpenSecrets.org
-Victor Reklaitis
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-18-23 0701ET
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