How Much Has the Crypto Industry Spent Lobbying in the US?
The crypto industry has spent a total of $56.32 million on lobbying in the US, from 2019 to 2023 so far. Around 66 companies and 12 organizations participated, or a combined 78 non-individual entities lobbying Washington for crypto-related issues in the last five years.
During this period, crypto-related lobbying spend was lowest in 2019 and 2020, at $2.99 million and $2.54 million respectively. Crypto’s lobbying expenditure was equivalent to just 2.9% of the Wall Street lobby in 2019, and 2.3% in 2020. The difference in scale points to crypto’s limited lobbying influence then, at a time when the bearish crypto market was below half a trillion dollars.
The Rise of Crypto Lobbying
Crypto lobbying spend tripled year-on-year (YoY) to reach $8.49 million amid the bull run of 2021. This put crypto lobbying spend at 7.2% of Wall Street lobbying spend, as total crypto market capitalization broke past the one trillion and two trillion marks.
In 2021, notable new participants in US crypto lobbying include Binance, Dapper Labs, the Crypto Council for Innovation, Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG) and FTX US.
Crypto lobbying saw a record high spend of $22.07 million in 2022, or more than double YoY. The higher expenditure came as the number of lobbying companies and organizations increased, from 37 unique entities in 2021 to 57 entities in 2022. For example, Crypto.com, TaxBit, Tether and Kraken started to participate in lobbying, and ranked among the top 15 spenders for the year.
Crypto Lobbying Spend in 2023 Set to Overtake 2022
The US crypto lobby has spent $20.19 million in 2023 to date, which does not include Q4 expenditure. As such, 2023 crypto lobbying spend could potentially overtake the $22.23 million spent in 2022.
Notably, crypto lobbying spend in 2023 has amounted to a significant 19.6% of Wall Street lobbying so far, or 3.6 percentage points higher than in 2022. The comparison suggests that crypto lobbying growth may outpace Wall Street in the upcoming years, as the crypto industry seeks stronger influence in Washington.
This comes even after the FTX collapse arguably set back crypto’s position in Washington: The exchange’s collapse not only triggered a regulatory crackdown, but the collective FTX political contributions also cast a negative light on crypto lobbying efforts in the US.
Annual Crypto Lobbying Spend in the US
The total amount spent by companies and organizations lobbying crypto-related issues in the US each year, from 2019 to 2023:
| Year | Crypto Lobbying Spend | No. Companies or Organizations Lobbying |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $2.99 million | 19 |
| 2020 | $2.54 million | 17 |
| 2021 | $8.49 million | 37 |
| 2022 | $22.23 million | 57 |
| 2023* | $20.19 million | 56 |
*Note that 2023 data is only up to Q3, as Q4 disclosures are only made after the year is over.
Which Company Leads Crypto Lobbying in the US?
Coinbase is the leading crypto representative in Washington, having spent the highest amount of $7.51 million on crypto lobbying from 2019 to 2023. The next highest crypto lobbying spend during the same period is Blockchain Association’s $5.23 million, making it the top organization lobbying crypto-related issues in the US. Ripple follows behind in third place, with $3.46 million in crypto lobbying expenditure.
All of the top 3 crypto lobbying representatives have participated for the last five consecutive years. Only 3 other entities have also consistently participated in crypto lobbying for the past five years, namely the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the Bitcoin Association and Anchorage Digital.
Up-and-coming crypto lobbying players include Crypto.com, Kraken, Tether and TaxBit, which have already recorded over $1.00 million in lobbying expenditure, despite only starting to participate in 2022.
In 2023, 10 Companies Contributed 54% of Crypto Lobbying
Crypto companies and organizations have spent between $7,500 and $2.16 million on lobbying in the US this year. Among the 56 crypto companies and organizations that have lobbied in 2023, the top 10 spent a combined $10.81 million to date. This represents a disproportionate 53.9%, or over half of the industry’s lobbying spending for the year so far.
Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and Ripple, which have been caught in the SEC’s recent crackdown on crypto, all rank among the top 10 lobbying spenders this year.
2023 also saw five well-known companies participating in US crypto lobbying for the first time: Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), OKX, Polygon, Solana and the media brand Discover Crypto (formerly Bitboy Crypto).
Top Crypto Companies Lobbying in the US
The crypto industry’s 30 biggest lobbying spenders account for 82.1% of total crypto lobbying over the last five years. The 30 crypto companies and organizations, ranked by their total lobbying expenditure from 2019 to 2023 (USD) are:
| Rank | Crypto Company or Organization | Lobbying Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coinbase | $7,505,000 |
| 2 | Blockchain Association | $5,230,000 |
| 3 | Ripple | $3,460,000 |
| 4 | Crypto.com | $2,715,000 |
| 5 | Binance | $2,460,000 |
| 6 | Chamber of Digital Commerce | $2,239,069 |
| 7 | Stellar | $1,700,000 |
| 8 | DeFi Education Fund | $1,680,000 |
| 9 | Bitcoin Association | $1,390,000 |
| 10 | Kraken | $1,328,000 |
| 11 | Tether | $1,240,000 |
| 12 | Dapper Labs | $1,240,000 |
| 13 | Crypto Council for Innovation | $1,210,000 |
| 14 | Digital Currency Group | $1,110,000 |
| 15 | Block.one (B1) | $1,040,000 |
| 16 | TaxBit | $1,030,000 |
| 17 | Chainalysis | $880,000 |
| 18 | Andreessen Horowitz | $790,000 |
| 19 | FTX US | $770,000 |
| 20 | VaultLink | $750,000 |
| 21 | Algorand | $730,000 |
| 22 | Overstock.Com (Medici Ventures) | $720,000 |
| 23 | CoinFlip | $660,000 |
| 24 | Anchorage Digital | $650,000 |
| 25 | Ava Labs | $640,000 |
| 26 | Paxos | $640,000 |
| 27 | Riot Platforms | $620,000 |
| 28 | Coin Center | $610,000 |
| 29 | Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association | $600,000 |
| 30 | Paradigm | $560,000 |
Methodology
The study examined US lobbying expenditures for crypto-related issues for the last five years, from January 1, 2019 to November 13, 2023, which does not include Q4 2023 lobbying spending. Data on crypto lobbying in the US was based on OpenSecrets. The dataset excluded cases whereby crypto-related issues were lobbied together with a number of non-crypto issues, such as the lobbying efforts from PayPal, JP Morgan, IBM etc.
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Curious to find out more about our previous research studies & statistics? Check out this one we did on spot Bitcoin ETFs by country.
Yuqian is a cryptocurrency writer and marketer who specializes in mainstream cryptocurrency insights. She's especially fascinated by the philosophical and socioeconomic aspects of crypto and also goes by the name of Q. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences with Honors from the National University of Singapore. Follow the author on Twitter @solosbrqt
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