Market participants Spent $25.57 million on crypto Lobbying in U. S. in 2022
2023.02.28 12:57
Market participants Spent $25.57 million on crypto Lobbying in U. S. in 2022
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Throughout the crypto winter that began last year, the industry has been intensifying its lobbying efforts. In the United States in 2022, market participants spent $25.57 million on lobbying.
This number appears in a Money Mongers study that was released on February 23. The figure is based on information from OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that keeps track of lobbying costs in the United States. By law, lobbying costs should be made public.
This information shows that lobbying budgets generally increased by 922 percent between 2017 and 2022. When Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed for the first time in 2017, the fledgling industry only spent $2.5 million on lobbying efforts, compared to $25.57 million the previous year. From $11.54 million in 2021, the stakeholders’ expenses increased by 121.41 percent in the previous year alone.
Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, is at the top of the list of spenders, paying $3.3 million to 32 lobbyists in 2022. The Blockchain Association, with 18 lobbyists costing 1.9 million dollars, and Robinhood, with 20 lobbyists costing 1.84 million dollars, complete the top three.
the American division of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. With $960,000 spent in 2022, the United States occupied only the ninth spot on the list. However, unlike Binance, Coinbase’s initial expenditures remained constant, ranging from $1–1.5 million annually. The United States only started spending money in 2021, going from $160,000 to almost $1 million in a year.
In six years, crypto companies in the United States spent slightly more than $50 million on lobbying, which is more than modest when compared to other industries. For instance, pharmaceutical companies engaged in federal lobbying efforts in 2022 for more than $350 million.