Coinbase, Robinhood & Co.: This is how much money crypto companies will spend on lobbying in 2022

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• Lobbying also important for crypto companies
• New record amount reached in 2022
• CME Group as the leader over the last 6 years

In order to have their interests adequately represented in politics and society, crypto companies in the USA dig deep into their pockets.

Record spending on lobbying in the US

According to a study by “The Money Mongers”, the lobbying expenses of companies in the crypto industry have increased massively in recent years. Looking at the last six years, there has been an enormous cost explosion here: since 2017, expenditure in this area has increased by a whopping 922 percent. After spending around $2.5 million in crypto lobbying in 2017, it surged to a new record of $25.57 million in 2022, the research found.

Some crypto representatives have been there for years

CME Group is the largest donor with a total of $8.26 million in lobbying spending over the past six years. The world’s largest options exchange is a big supporter of Bitcoin and Ethereum derivative contracts and has also been offering corresponding products itself for years. However, CME spending has remained broadly stable over the past few years, fluctuating between $1.070 million on an annualized basis and $1.43 million last year.

With a total of 5.595 million dollars spent on lobbying during the study period, the crypto exchange Coinbase ranks second. Unlike the CMS Group, Coinbase has significantly increased its tasks in this area year after year: the company spent 80,000 US dollars in 2017 for lobbying, expenditure rose steadily in the following years and reached a new record level of 3.39 million US dollars in 2022. No company has spent more lobbying in the crypto sector in the last year.

In third place with a total of $1.72 million in lobbying spend over the past six years is Block Inc. The financial services and mobile payment company, formerly known as Square, also has its spend significantly increased: in 2017 these were still a manageable 340,000 US dollars, in 2022 that was made by Jack Dorsey founded companies already loose 1.72 million US dollars.

The 4th-6th spots for lobbying spend are Blockchain Association, Robinhood, and XRP developer Ripple, which are worth $1.9 million, $1.84 million, and $1.080 million, respectively, annually 2022 were also among the biggest supporters of lobbying in the USA.

Companies want to know that their interests are protected

It is no coincidence that spending on lobbying has increased so much in the past six years, and especially in 2022. The industry-affiliated companies want to know that their interests are protected and use the money to support interest groups and also so-called revolvers – ex-employees of the public sector who take jobs at lobbying companies after their work and use the expertise they have acquired during their political and civil service careers.

“The Money Mongers” describes lobbying as “an essential part of participatory democracy”.

Financial sector only 4th in terms of lobby spending

Looking across industries, the roughly $26 million that crypto companies spent on stakeholders last year is manageable, by the way. According to the non-profit organization OpenSecret, lobbying in 2022 cost companies USD 137.779 million in total securities and investments, which puts the financial sector in fourth place. However, the pharmaceutical sector was by far the leader in lobbying expenditure last year: USD 373.743 million -dollars were taken by industry-affiliated companies in 2022 to protect their interests. The electronics industry came in second with $221.523 million, while insurance companies spent $158.454 million on lobbying.

Editorial office finanzen.net

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