Coinbase, against the backdrop of increased lobbying for the interests of the crypto industry, is forming a whole pool of candidates for the elections to the US Congress.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has begun forming the DC Candidate Support Committee (PAC) ahead of the November midterm elections to the US Congress. On Monday, the exchange filed a formal application with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for the creation of the Coinbase Innovation PAC.
The members of the committee, from which Coinbase forms the PAC, are already actively involved in lobbying for legislation to regulate the crypto industry. Among them is PAC Secretary Kara Calvert. She is a partner in the lobbying group Coinbase Franklin Square and has been working on the exchange since December as director of US public policy.
Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas has been named PAC Treasurer. Previously, she was directly involved in lobbying laws.
The application does not contain complete information about the campaign budget and targeted spending on candidates. It is known that since 2017, Coinbase has already spent about $1.465 million lobbying the crypto industry. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is forming a similar committee for the second time. In 2018, its similar initiative called Coinbase PAC failed to advance its candidate in the elections.
Over the past few years, spending on political lobbying for the interests of the crypto industry in the US has skyrocketed. This is due to the fact that regulators and legislators are tightening their policies regarding cryptocurrencies. Recently, the Crypto Head analytical service stated that over the year, the crypto business has increased spending on promoting its interests by 116%. The number of politicians lobbying blockchain in the US Congress in 2019 increased from 12 to 33 people. In May 2019, the Federal Election Commission reported that in the first quarter of 2019 alone, businesses spent $42 million lobbying for fintech and cryptocurrency bills.
