The biggest chunk of the crypto industry's $13 million devoted to lobbying in the first half of the year was said in federal disclosures to involve pushing the Clarity Act, which failed to advance in the U.S. Senate.
CoinDesk reviewed the sector's lobbying disclosures, finding the Coinbase exchange led the expensive lobbying charge, though a long list of crypto firms and trade groups also ran their own lobbyists.
The industry additionally spent millions on professional, outside firms — at least 42 of them.
The crypto industry has become famous for its spending on elections and boasts an array of expensive booster organizations, but it also sought to convert almost $8 million into political results this year through direct lobbying on its central pursuit: getting a law to regulate the U.S. digital assets markets.
In the first half of 2026, the sector's paid advocates swarmed Capitol Hill as the U.S. Senate worked on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. About half of those registered lobbyists work as direct crypto firm employees and the rest came from outside shops or the industry's trade associations. That expensive army has so far failed to accomplish its mission.
In a CoinDesk analysis of federal lobbyist disclosures, the industry spent more than $13 million on lobbying in that six-month period. Most of that — $8 million — was linked to the market structure legislation in Congress, though the filings don't detail how much attention was also paid to other issues that might have been pursued alongside it.
This is not crypto's mountain of more than $100 million in campaign funds meant to steer friendly politicians into Congress. Nor is it the tens of millions the industry spends each year on its many advocacy groups, such as the Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and others, (though some of those groups' membership fees do go toward this cause). This is a separate campaign of straight-up lobbying, which is a narrowly defined field of experts who represent client interests in meetings with the federal officials writing legislation and policy.