According to Reuters, the crypto industry was on course to set a new record for federal lobbying spending, following a year in which corporations hurried to restore their reputations and advance sympathetic legislation, based on data provided to Reuters by the nonprofit research group OpenSecrets.
Crypto’s power play intensifies in Washington, D.C
Investing in U.S. lobbying by the crypto industry is poised to surpass all previous records this year.
Comparatively, digital asset companies spent $18.96 million on lobbying during the first three quarters of 2023, up from $16.1 million in the same period of 2022. This was in defiance of the significant collapse of FTX, a crypto exchange that had been among the top ten spenders, last year. In total, businesses, including FTX, spent close to $22 million on lobbying last year.
With expenditures of $2.16 million, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States, once again took the lead, followed by Foris DAX, the operator of Crypto.com, the Blockchain Association, and Binance Holdings. CEO of the Blockchain Association Kristin Smith said in a statement:
Our goal is to engage directly with policymakers, build relationships, and bridge the education gap to build a commonsense regulatory framework.
Kristin Smith
Last year, the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX was one of the top spenders. This year’s statistic shows that other crypto companies may have increased their attempts to repair the harm created by the exchange’s dramatic demise, which resulted in founder Sam Bankman-Fried being convicted guilty of fraud last month.
This year has also seen the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sue cryptocurrency exchanges for securities law violations as the sector waits for the approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The future of digital assets in the US
These companies have also been attempting to battle increased regulatory scrutiny, particularly from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which claims the industry has been breaking its regulations. The SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase and Binance in June for allegedly neglecting to register coins, which they deny.
The industry has also lobbied the SEC to authorize a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), which would allow millions more investors to invest in the world’s largest digital asset. Traditional behemoths like BlackRock are also rooting for an Ethereum ETF.
Optimism that the government will approve the product after losing a crucial legal case in the summer sent Bitcoin to a 20-month high on Monday.
At present, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) stands at $42,239.92, accompanied by a 24-hour trading volume of $28,043,154,518.85. This signifies a price surge of 1.90% over the last twenty-four hours and 12.88% over the last seven days.
Today’s Ethereum (ETH) price is $2,217.28, and the 24-hour trading volume amounts to $20,805,298,704.35. This reflects a price decrease of -0.13% over the last twenty-four hours and a surge of 9.13% over the last seven days.
The current valuation of the global digital asset market is $1.62 trillion, representing a change of 1.33% over the last twenty-four hours and 82.39% over the past year. At the present time, Bitcoin (BTC) holds a market cap of $824 billion, signifying a dominance of 50.85%. Stablecoins, meanwhile, have a market cap of $130 billion, or 8.03% of the total crypto market cap.
Crypto companies have also been working to advance pro-crypto legislation in the House of Representatives and scored a victory in July when a congressional committee in that chamber passed two major bills that lobbyists say would help clarify which existing financial rules apply to crypto companies.
Although such legislation have yet to move forward, crypto lobbyists are not backing down. Coinbase, which launched a grassroots advocacy campaign in September, will continue its push in the coming weeks, according to a spokeswoman.
