Crypto industry lobbying spending hits record high in 2022 led by Coinbase

US Coinbase Spends Largest

The non-profit organization OpenSecrets has released a report analyzing the lobbying activities of the crypto asset (virtual currency) industry in the United States. In 2022, the cryptocurrency industry reported spending a record ¥2.9 billion ($21.55 million) on lobbying.

OpenSecrets collects and analyzes disclosures from over 50 cryptocurrency companies. In 2021, the cost of lobbying in the cryptocurrency industry was about ¥1.1 billion ($8.29 million), and by 2022 it will more than triple that amount.

According to the report, the biggest spender was Coinbase, the largest US exchange, spending about 460 million yen (about $3.4 million).

The second place is US Blockchain Association about 260 million yen (about $1.9 million), the third place is Crypto.com about 160 million yen (about $1.2 million), and the fourth place is about 150 million yen (about $1.1 million) by Binance. ), followed by Ripple in fifth place with about 130 million yen ($1 million).

The US Blockchain Association is an industry group with about 100 member companies, and will establish a political fund organization in 2022. He had just said that he would support any candidate who promotes cryptocurrency technology, regardless of party.

connection: US Blockchain Association Establishes Political Action Group

As for the background of the increase in lobbying costs, the report points out that excessive regulation and oversight have attracted attention following the bankruptcy of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November last year. In February of this year, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) sued Kraken for violating securities laws.

connection:How to view the US SEC’s Kraken indictment and consider the impact on Ethereum staking

On the other hand, the lobbying costs of each cryptocurrency company are far smaller than the size of the big tech companies. For example, e-commerce giant Amazon and its subsidiaries spent about ¥2.9 billion ($21.38 million) on lobbying in 2022. Alphabet, Google’s holding company, also spent about ¥1.7 billion (over $13 million).

FTX Requests Return of Donation

The bankrupt FTX also spent a lot of money on various related activities, including lobbying and campaign funding. In 2022, about 5.4 billion yen (about $ 40 million) will be spent on political action committees. Most of the donations were made to Democrats.

In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Sam Bankman-Freed (SBF), former CEO of FTX, on charges of fraud and money laundering, alleging that he had illegally provided campaign funds. He is also filing charges. It is a form of pointing out that FTX concealed the company name and made donations to politicians in order to avoid donation restrictions and reporting obligations.

connection: US investigative authorities indict former FTX CEO Sam on suspicion of fraud and money laundering

FTX’s new management will return to FTX by February 28 any donations made to politicians by or at the direction of former CEO Sam and other FTX-affiliated company executives on the 5th of this month. announced that it would request

It’s part of a move by the bankrupt FTX to take a debtor’s position and maximize the assets creditors can get back. Unless it is voluntarily returned, FTX has the right to sue the bankruptcy court for its return.

At this point, the Democratic Party’s National Committee, Congressional Election Commission, and Senate Election Commission are planning to return about 130 million yen (about $1 million). This represents about 2.2% of the roughly ¥6.1 billion ($45.2 million) publicly donated to the Democratic Party by FTX.

It is currently unclear whether FTX will be content to get back only 2.2% of the donations, or ask for more.