Crypto industry seeks to educate, influence US lawmakers as it faces increasing regulation

cointelegraph.com:

Interaction between the cryptocurrency industry and Capitol Hill is becoming ever more intensive as efforts to regulate crypto grow in tandem with its popularity. The surge in crypto industry lobbying last year was given some concrete parameters in February by crypto analytics startup Crypto Head. It released a report showing that the crypto companies that spent the most money on lobbying in 2021 were Robinhood, Ripple Labs, Coinbase and the Blockchain Association. These organizations were the lobbying leaders during the past five years as well, although with different rankings.

Here is what the United States crypto-lobbying landscape looks like today.

Robinhood spent $1.35 million on lobbying in 2021 and was the only crypto-related organization to spend more than $1 million. Ripple Labs, in second place, spent $900,000. The Economist estimated a total of $5 million was spent by crypto firms on lobbying in the first three quarters of 2021.

To put this in perspective, the highest-spending lobbying group in the U.S. in 2020, the National Association of Realtors, spent $84.11 million according to the nonprofit Open Secrets, which provided the data for the Crypto Head report.

Blockchain Association executive director Kristin Smith said in an email to Cointelegraph that “Spending is only one metric of influence, and these roundups do not often provide context on the effectiveness of dollars spent.” Smith noted the Crypto Head report “mixes companies with different focuses, multi-member trade associations and other entities, making a one-to-one comparison difficult.”

Smith said education is the top priority of her organization. She told Fox News last year, “Our number-one priority is helping [Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen