U.S. Crypto Lobby Spending Surpasses $20 Million in 2023, On Track to Beat 2022 Record

Over $20 million has been spent on crypto-related lobbying in the United States this year, a new report shows.

According to a recent CoinGecko report, the amount spent on cryptocurrency lobbying was $20.19 million, a figure set to break last year’s $22 million mark as recent data does not include Q4 spending.

The total amount spent lobbying in Washington this quarter is expected to push the figure past $22.23 million. As more adoption comes into the sector, industry-related companies are increasing their budgets for lobbying worldwide.

Per the report, digital asset lobbying efforts have outpaced similar attempts by Wall Street by 19.7% or 3.7 percentage points from last year. If the status quo remains sustainable, analysts opine that the market may have a strong influence on the capital over Wall Street in some areas.

While last year’s figures were at a record high because of FTX involvement, the exchange’s lobbying and political donations have placed a heavy burden on the industry after its infamous implosion last year.

Several regulatory authorities have criticized political parties for being slow to properly regulate the market and for accepting gifts from the former chief executive. Over the years, as more companies get involved in lobbying the figure doubles which explains the record set last year.

“Crypto lobbying saw a record high spend of $22.23 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.”

Millions spent and more to come

Actual crypto lobbying can be traced back to 2019 when the industry began to see massive institutional inflows to the sector and a rise of retail adoption across several jurisdictions.

A total of $56.44 million has been spent on cryptocurrency lobbying from 2019 with over 66 companies and 12 organisations taking part in the process.

#Crypto companies spent a record $21.55 million in 2022 on Washington lobbying, with major cryptocurrency exchange #Coinbase leading the list.

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— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) February 18, 2023

While 2019 marked $2.99 million, in 2020 a slight drop was recorded but the bull run in 2021 eventually saw a surge of lobby activity to $8.49 million. Most observers believe that the bull run spilled over to 2022 numbers where Bitcoin moved past $64,000 and multiple institutions got interested in crypto on the back of Coinbase going public in 2021.

Following this report, policy watchers have stressed the need to have more traditional institutions in the market for faster rule clarity in the United States and to boost investor confidence.

Coinbase leads crypto lobbying figures with $7.5 million spent since 2019 followed by the Blockchain Association’s $5.23 million while blockchain payment firm Ripple has spent $3.46 million.