Crypto industry smashes all lobbying records in 2024, influencing US election

The crypto industry smashed all lobbying records in 2024 as President-elect Donald Trump secured a second term to return to the White House.

All across America, in key battleground states, money from crypto lobbyists made its mark. One of the biggest wins came in Ohio, where Republican Bernie Moreno ousted Democrat Sherrod Brown at a cost to crypto lobbyists of $40 million.

Brown, a crypto skeptic, was also chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Moreno’s victory removes a major crypto roadblock in Washington.

Kristin Smith, CEO of the US industry group the Blockchain Association, reflected the positive sentiment regarding the election when she told Cointelegraph that “2024 marked a turning point for the industry in Washington, D.C. The crypto advocate is engaged, the crypto voter is real, and the industry is organized and mature.”

According to the lobbying watchdog site FollowtheCrypto.com, the crypto industry spent upward of $133 million for the election, positively influencing more than 100 individual races. For comparison, in 2020, during the last election cycle, the crypto lobby spent less than $3 million .

Source: Follow the Crypto

Tyler Adams, co-founder and CEO of Web3 software development community COZ, said part of the reason for the increased funding was the growth of the industry. 

Adams told Cointelegraph, “The crypto industry has seen significant financial growth over the last decade, and the 2024 lobbying push is partially fueled by record-level resources now available to large players in the sector.”

Still, Adams and others said the growth of the industry was just one factor among many that enabled crypto to flex its newfound political muscle.

Greater awareness

Another reason for record-breaking lobbying was that the public and political classes are now more aware of crypto — making political engagement more important and necessary.

Debra Nita, associate director at crypto-native PR firm YAP Global, told Cointelegraph, “This cycle has seen a significant appetite [for crypto] among presidential candidates like Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr.”

This is something that Nita observed firsthand. In February she organized interviews for then-US presidential candidate Kennedy and also ran his news conference at ETHDenver —  billed as the largest crypto event in the United States. 

Kennedy went on to drop out of the race but joined the campaign team of the newly pro-crypto Trump.

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Nita also organized media events for other political candidates during the campaign, including the new senator for Ohio, Bernie Moreno.

Nita said that the overall strategy was “not necessarily about reaching voters with pro-crypto messages, but simply about getting pro-crypto candidates into office so they can advocate for pro-crypto legislation.”

She said the industry is now playing the game “in a system that requires lobbying efforts to be taken seriously.” 

Whose jurisdiction is it anyway?

Vincent Wang, chief financial officer of the private AI training platform FLock.io, said the reason lobbyists were spending more than in previous years was because they wanted to end the perpetual turf wars fought between various governmental agencies.

In particular, Wang said the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission were all “competing for jurisdiction” of the industry.

Campaigns supported by crypto PACs. Source: Follow the Crypto

The inter-agency jockeying for primacy has rarely played out well for the industry.

Wang said major crypto players now want to put an end to the ongoing territorial disputes by “advocating for legislation that provides more certainty, favors the industry and protects their specific interests.”

Repairing crypto’s damaged image

A major problem for the industry is public perception following the collapse of FTX. In this sense, political lobbying may be a form of damage control, keeping political figures onside before they attempt to opportunistically ride the wave of discontent.

Erik LaPaglia, chief strategy officer at a blockchain-based real estate platform Propy, is among those who acknowledge the need to repair crypto’s image.

“With public perception shaped by past market disruptions, industry leaders recognize the importance of proactive representation to rebuild trust and clarify the sector’s potential,” LaPaglia told Cointelegraph.

Adams said, “The FTX collapse cemented negative assumptions about cryptocurrency for many legislators, making it harder to build bipartisan support.” He added that it “hit the industry’s reputation hard.”

It hasn’t been easy, even if the tide is now turning.

Mike Cageny, CEO and co-founder of crypto trading platform Figure Markets, told Cointelegraph, “Lobbying in D.C. was hard after FTX, but things have gotten better and better [...] Hopefully, the industry will stay coordinated and focused after November.”

Hope for the future

With the 2024 election over, there is fresh hope within crypto that the future will be bright.

Oleg Fomenko, co-founder of FitFi application Sweat Economy, told Cointelegraph, “The faster we collectively develop a regulatory approach that is designed for crypto and around crypto — the faster we will be able to get rid of bad players and improve the image of the industry.”

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With a host of incoming legislators sympathetic to the industry, there is potential for positive action and crypto-friendly regulation.

“Innovation in everyday life requires innovation in laws and regulations, and the same logic applies to the crypto industry,” Fomenko said. “To not acknowledge this is to try to force humanity into the past rather than embracing the future.”