Crypto30 September, 20262 min read
Crypto Industry Spent $8 Million Lobbying for Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, Senate Vote Halts
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Crypto industry spent over $13 million lobbying in first half 2026. About $8 million targeted the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act efforts.
6 outlets told this the same way.
$8 Million, No Senate Win
The crypto industry spent more than $13 million on U.S. lobbying in the first half of 2026, with about $8 million tied to efforts around the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
CoinDesk’s analysis of federal lobbyist disclosures said the sector “spent more than $13 million on lobbying in that six-month period,” and it linked most of that total to the market-structure legislation.
International Business Times reported that senators voted 49-50 on Sept. 15 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, a procedural step requiring 60 votes.
The Senate’s Sept. 15 vote left H.R. 3633 without the votes needed to move forward on the procedural motion, and the measure remained the same House-passed bill being considered for federal oversight of digital-asset markets.
The lobbying disclosures covered Jan. 1 through June 30, and the Senate vote that halted the bill’s immediate advance did not formally end future consideration.
Who Lobbied, What They Said
CoinDesk said Coinbase spent about $2.2 million on lobbying tied to the Clarity Act effort, while Kraken spent almost a million, and it listed Digital Currency Group, Jump Crypto and Paradigm among other major spenders.
CoinDesk quoted Coinbase spokesperson Julia Krieger saying, “We’re proud of what Coinbase’s in-house team and outside advisers achieved,” and it added that the company’s effort helped bring “bipartisan market structure legislation to the brink of passage.”
CoinDesk also quoted Blockchain Association Chief Policy Officer Lindsay Fraser saying the group’s lobbying involved meeting congressional staff and federal officials more than 380 times.
International Business Times reported that the Senate’s Sept. 15 cloture vote included four Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, joining Democrats in voting against cloture, while Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware did not vote.
Regulatory Stakes After the Setback
The Clarity Act was designed to establish a federal market structure for digital assets and clarify the respective roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
A congressional committee report on H.R. 3633 said the measure would give the CFTC jurisdiction over digital commodities while clarifying the SEC’s authority over investment contracts involving digital commodities, and it also set out rules for secondary-market trading and customer protections for entities registered with the two regulators.
A Congressional Research Service analysis said the legislation would generally expand CFTC authority over assets defined as digital commodities while narrowing the SEC’s jurisdiction in some areas.
After the Senate vote, Sen. Adam Schiff said, “This bill achieves some of these important goals, but unfortunately not all of them,” and the setback left the United States without the proposed market-structure law while the existing regulatory framework remained in place.
Tokenpost said the Senate vote that halted the Clarity Act did not formally terminate the legislation, and it described the procedural vote as preventing the legislation from advancing at that time but not ending future consideration.