Key Notes
- Coinbase and major crypto groups spent more than $4 million on Q3 federal lobbying, Bloomberg found.
- Spending fell from Q2 but exceeded that threshold for a sixth consecutive quarter.
- The CLARITY Act failed to clear a procedural Senate vote in September.
Coinbase and major cryptocurrency groups reduced their US federal lobbying spending in the third quarter as the industry’s effort to advance the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate, according to Bloomberg Government.
The organizations examined still spent more than $4 million from July through September, Bloomberg’s analysis found. It was their sixth consecutive quarter above that threshold, although the total fell from the preceding three months. Some lobbying firms also ended engagements with crypto clients during the quarter.
Lower Spending After a Legislative Setback
The disclosures point to a slowdown in a sustained Washington lobbying effort, rather than an industry withdrawal. The reported total covers Coinbase and a group of major crypto organizations; it is not a comprehensive measure of every company’s political spending.
The legislative setback came on September 15. The Senate’s roll call records 49 votes in favor and 50 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The motion required a three-fifths majority.
That procedural defeat prevented the bill from advancing at that stage. It was not a final vote on passage, and it did not itself repeal existing rules or enact a replacement framework.
The bill seeks a federal market structure for digital assets, including responsibilities for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Its failure to advance left that broader legislative project unfinished.
First-Half Figures Show the Earlier Push
A separate September 30 CoinDesk analysis found that the industry spent more than $13 million on federal lobbying during the first half of 2026. About $8 million was associated with disclosures mentioning the market-structure legislation.
Coinbase reported roughly $2.2 million in lobbying that included advocacy for the bill, while Kraken spent nearly $1 million. Those amounts included work on CLARITY; the disclosures did not establish that every dollar was spent exclusively on that measure.
The first-half figures and Bloomberg’s third-quarter total describe different periods and reporting groups. They should not be used to calculate a precise industry-wide percentage decline without a consistent set of organizations and definitions.
Lobbying and Election Spending Remain Separate
Federal lobbying expenditures concern efforts to influence legislation and government policy. They are distinct from campaign contributions and independent election advertising.
CoinScreamer previously covered Fairshake’s support for 32 House incumbents. That campaign activity is a separate category of spending from the lobbying totals examined in these reports.
Agency rulemaking also continues on a different track. The stablecoin rules recently finalized under the GENIUS Act implement an enacted law; they do not mean Congress has completed the CLARITY Act’s broader market-structure framework.
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