Crypto lobbying continues to grow as the industry matures

The Crypto industry and crypto proponents lobbying culture is booming in the U.S. Congress. As per a report published by Public Citizen on Tuesday, the number of crypto-related issues’ lobbyists have surged from 115 in 2018 to 320 in 2021 along with the number of representatives from the crypto industry rising from 47 to 157 in the same time frame.

Notably, Lobbyists are professional advocates that aim to influence political decisions from the side of organizations and individuals. These kinds of advocacy often result in the proposal of new legislation, or the amendment of existing regulations.

Other than the above mentioned, some of the biggest revelations from the reports are:

1. The spending in these advocacies attributed to the crypto sector increased four times from $2.2 million in 2018 to $9 million in 2021.
2. The largest spenders in this lobbying from the crypto sector include exchange giant Coinbase, technology company Ripple Labs, and Blockchain Association with each spending more than $2 million from 2018 to 2021.
3. Coinbase, which generated $2.2 billion in net revenue, spent $1.5 million on 26 lobbyists from seven different lobbying companies, as well as its own in-house lobbyists, in 2021. Coinbase spent only $230,000 on seven lobbyists in 2020.
4. Ripple Labs, which aspires to be “the Amazon of payments,” spent more than $1.1 million on 14 lobbyists from three different lobbying firms, more than double the amount it spent the previous year on the nine lobbyists it disclosed employing. 
5. The Stellar Development Foundation, which promotes blockchain-based financial infrastructure development, boosted its lobbying budget from $60,000 in 2020 to $590,000 in 2021.
6. The Chamber of Digital Commerce increased its lobbying spending plan from $120,000 in 2020 for one lobbyist to $426,663 in 2021 for 10 lobbyists.
7. In the crypto industry, some of the major lobbyists include former top officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Treasury Department. 
8. Other major lobbyists come from the lawmaking category which includes Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) along with the former high-ranking congressional staffers.

Lobbying activities will go up with time

The number of crypto lobbyists is still developing in the industry. While it is overshadowed by the securities and investment sector, which spends over $100 million per year and employs almost 300 lobbyists in 2021. It has already surpassed payday lenders’ lobbying presence, which topped at $7 million in 2010 and spent $4 million on 52 representatives in 2021.