Crypto industry’s annual spending on lobbying in Washington has more than doubled

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By Victor Reklaitis

Cryptocurrency Industry Lobbying Spending Reaches Record $21.55 Million in 2022

The cryptocurrency industry sharply increased its annual lobbying spending in Washington last year, paying out more than ever before – $21.55 million.

That’s according to an analysis of the disclosures by OpenSecrets, which collated disclosures from more than 50 industry players.

The 2022 spending more than doubled the crypto industry’s lobbying spending of $8.29 million for 2021, as shown in the chart below.

The surge came in a year where the industry suffered a black eye thanks to the November collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently awaiting trial on fraud charges, had been a megadonor for the 2022 midterm elections, but politicians ended up returning or donating FTX-related campaign contributions.

Campaign contributions are not counted as lobbying expenses, even if donors make them to build relationships with policy makers.

Bitcoin, the best-known virtual currency, lost more than 60% in 2022, but rebounded in 2023.

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While the crypto industry’s lobbying expenditures are increasing, the amounts disbursed by its individual companies and trade groups are well below the lobbying expenditures of Washington’s biggest players. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and its subsidiaries, for example, paid out $21.38 million in 2022, according to analysis by OpenSecrets, which is a research group that tracks money in US politics.

From the MarketWatch Archives (February 2022): Congressional Crypto Traders: US Lawmakers Buying and Selling Digital Currencies

The chart below, also based on data from OpenSecrets, shows lobbying spending in 2022 by companies that aimed to influence Washington on crypto-related issues. Coinbase (COIN) paid the most, followed by the Blockchain Association.

Name 2022 Lobbying Expenses 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 440,000 Chainalysis Inc $430,00060 0 30 VaultLink Inc 0 $ Crypto Council for Innovation $350,000 Network Chia $340,000 Bitcoin Assn $340,000 COINFLIP $320,000 AVA LABS $300,000 Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Assn $280,000 Blockchain Pax.000.000. Blockchains LLC $195,000 Association for Digital Asset Markets $190,000 Galaxy Digital Holdings $190,000 US Bullish $180,000 Stone Ridge $180,000 Celo Foundation $176,500 Bitwise Asset Management $160,000 Overstock.com $160,000 Filecoin Foundation 150,000 $A Folded Blockchain $150,000 CONSENSYS SOFTWARE $150,000 OpenSEA $140,000 UNISWAP LABS $130,000 TRUSSANT PREPAYMENT $120,000 Marathon Digital Holdings $120,000 Paradigm Operations $100,000 ALLIVENCE PREPAYMENT $100,000 HIVE BLOCKSCHAIN ​​TECHNOLOGY $80,000 OpenSecrets.org

-Victor Reklaitis

(END) Dow Jones Newswire

02-18-23 0701ET

Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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