The crypto industry has ramped up lobbying activities, with a 1386% increase in spending in the past seven years. According to a Social Capital Markets report, U.S. firms spent a whopping $40.42 million in 2023 alone to influence U.S. policies, a huge increase from just $2.72 million in 2017.
As per the report, even if perceived as controversial, lobbying functions as a decisive element in the government policy-making process. For crypto companies, lobbying has become a vital tool in persuading regulatory bodies to offer them favorable regulations in a changing regulatory environment.
The majority of the growth came in the last two years. About 60% of the total expenditure, $78.94 million, took place in 2022 and 2023. The biggest spender in 2023, Apollo Global Management, spent $7.56 million on lobbying. This indicates its intention to develop Apollo Crypto further.
Managed Funds Association, which stands for alternative asset managers, is second with $4.11 million. Moreover, the crypto exchange Coinbase increased its lobbying expenditure by 3475% in seven years, reaching $2.86 million in 2023.
Key players in crypto Lobbying
Other major contributors are Binance.US and Ripple, whose lobbying expenditures grew by 656.25% and 1780%, respectively, between 2017 and 2023. These companies are putting a lot of pressure on the government to pass laws that would be very important to their operations.
The huge increase in lobbying activities shows the great importance of government policy to the crypto industry. The more the sector evolves and its weight increases, the more the companies are coming to the realization that they have to be the ones to determine the regulatory climate they are dealing with.
However, connected with the Ethereum space, firms like BlackRock have jumped into lobbying Bitcoin ETF proposals. This shows the traditional and digital financial sectors are intermingled. These companies are unquestionably ready to pour in considerable amounts to have the future of the crypto space in their way.
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