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Technology

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The Big Story

Crypto lobby gains ground under Trump

The cryptocurrency lobby rapidly expanded its presence on Capitol Hill in recent months as lawmakers took their first bite at legislation to regulate digital currency.

At least 27 crypto companies or advocates filed their first-ever lobbying disclosures this year across some 20 firms, reflecting an increasing appetite for influence in a more crypto-friendly Washington.

The newcomers originate from all corners of the industry.

There’s betting website Polymarket, a gaming company that created an NFT version of the White House Easter egg hunt, and a Seychelles-based exchange that cannot operate in the U.S. market due to a federal money laundering settlement.

Together, they spent nearly $2.8 million between April 1 and June 30 on lobbying landmark legislation promoting digital assets to the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a host of other issues relevant to blockchain infrastructure — an increasingly sprawling ecosystem that some hope could one day be as ubiquitous as the internet.

The push has paid off for crypto so far. The GENIUS Act, a bill with bipartisan support signed by President Trump last week, has been regarded as the government’s “seal of approval” on the industry.

The law sets up a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that is theoretically pegged to the U.S. dollar or another reference asset.

The House also advanced several other landmark bills during its monumental “crypto week,” which featured high-profile lobbying stunts such as vending machines around the Capitol and the National Mall with customized chocolate bars urging “yes” votes, bankrolled by the crypto exchange Coinbase.

Lobbying expenses that week were not covered in the second quarter disclosures.

At least 73 companies or associations focused on crypto disclosed federal lobbying activities, to the tune of about $11.4 million.

This total doesn’t include spending from investment firms such as Andreessen Horowitz ($790,000) or BlackRock ($810,000) that have substantial crypto interests but also lobbied on a suite of other financial regulation issues.

The Hill’s Miriam Waldvogel has more here.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, I’m Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:

Warren: FCC approval of Paramount-Skydance merger shows Trump is ‘open for business’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) late Thursday following its approval of a megamerger between entertainment giants Paramount and Skydance. “The appearance of this ‘wink wink’ deal basically lets every other company and every other billionaire [know] that Trump is open for business,” Warren said in a video posted to social platform X. The approval of …

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An Arizona woman was sentenced to more than eight years in prison Thursday after she pleaded guilty to helping North Korean tech workers secure remote jobs with hundreds of U.S. firms using false identities. Christina Marie Chapman, 50, of Litchfield Park, Ariz., helped North Korean workers gain IT positions at 309 U.S. businesses as part of a scheme that reaped in more than $17 million, mostly for Pyongyang, according to a …

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Meta will cease political ads in European Union by fall, blaming bloc’s new rules

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The Refresh

News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:

Meta names OpenAI’s Shengjia Zhao as chief scientist of AI Superintelligence Lab (CNBC)
Microsoft probing whether cyber alert tipped off Chinese hackers (Bloomberg)

In Other News

Branch out with other reads on The Hill:

Intel cuts back spending, workforce as struggling chip maker mounts comeback

Intel Corp. is shedding thousands of workers and cutting expenses as its new CEO works to revive the fortunes of the struggling chipmaker that helped launch Silicon Valley but has fallen behind rivals like Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.