There seems to be a proportional growth rate between the efforts of the US lawmakers to regulate crypto activities and the growth of the crypto industry. The above presumption proved true following the analysis provided by the crypto analytics startup, crypto head.
The crypto analytics company noted a significant surge in crypto industry lobbying last year. According to crypto head, the crypto companies that recorded the highest spending on lobbying in 2021 are Coinbase, Robinhood, blockchain association, and ripples lab. Though in different rankings, the four companies mentioned early are also led the crypto industry lobbying chart in the past five years.
Crypto Industry Influencers and the Art of Lobbying
Some crypto companies have directly or indirectly lobbied to influence US lawmakers’ strict regulations against them. At the top of the US lobbying chart is Robinhood, it is the first and only crypto organization to spend above $1 million on lobbying. In 2021, the crypto company paid $1.35 million on lobbying. Ripple lab came second with a total of $900,000 spent. In the first three quarters of 2021, the crypto industry has spent an estimated $5 million lobbying.
Kristin Smith, Blockchain Association’s executive director said that spending is only one aspect of influence; she stated that the earlier figures do not often represent the actual money spent on lobbying, which she believes is higher.
However, the blockchain association boss revealed that the focus of her company has shifted from influencing the lawmakers through lobbying to educating them. She said educating the Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, to understand that crypto business or activity is beyond criminal financing organizations is her company’s top priority.
Other National Influencers
The crypto industry is not the only one in the business of lobbying US lawmakers and other government agencies. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is the highest lobbying group in the US. In 2020, the association spent a whopping $84 million on lobbying.
In 2021, the National Football League lobbied Congress, the US Security and Exchange Commission, and other federal agencies with $600,000. They aimed to find out if crypto can form a vital part of the league enterprise. February 2022, Andrew Yang, a former presidential aspirant, launched a decentralized autonomous company, Lobby3; the company will lobby for web 3.0 and poverty eradication.
PAC Offers the Crypto Industry a Rare Opportunity
Political Actions Committee (PAC) has offered the crypto industry the opportunity to influence the political process, a rare privilege for other organizations to lobby. The American Blockchain PAC has promised to raise $300 million to support a pro-crypto political candidate; regrettably, only $8,000 has been raised in mid-February.
In January, a pro-crypto group, Gonna Make It (GMI), supported former President Trump’s director of communications, Anthony Scaramuchi, with a tweet declaring that they are unstoppable. They revealed that they would succeed in electing only pro-crypto candidates across all federal offices in the country. That notwithstanding, 2022 proves to be an exciting year for crypto politics.
