Even as the naysayers and crypto cynics make their voices heard, crypto continues to grow and march on. Data indicates that the number of verified users has ballooned and that adoption is quickly gaining traction. Compared to the 2017 boom which was widely believed to have been driven by retail investors, institutional investment and interest has grown in the current scheme of things.
At the moment as many as 84% of companies worldwide are involved with Blockchain technologies in one way or another, while crypto ownership among young Americans has doubled. Not only is crypto ownership among the youth increasing, but it now seems like lobbying on crypto related issues is also increasing. This indicator of growth emerged at the tail end of April when the U.S congress released its latest quarterly data on lobbying on Capitol Hill.
The statistics revealed that the number of companies and organizations lobbying for crypto had surged between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019 with lobbying efforts from the likes of Accenture, MasterCard, and EY. This shows that crypto regulation is not only of interest to the likes of Coinbase, and other players in the crypto industry. The number of crypto lobbyists has been increasing since the last crypto bull run in 2017 where there were only 12 entities rallying behind issues to do with the Blockchain and crypto.
The number of Blockchain lobbyists grew from 12 in 2017 to 33 in just a year’s time with the first quarter of 2019 shows a growth from 33 to 40. The most notable Blockchain lobbyists in the recent past include;
U.S chamber of commerce
The lobbying group which has a membership of 300,000 businesses, declared in its quarterly report that one of its many issues included draft legislation on cryptocurrencies as well as Blockchain and fintech. Other than that the lobbying group has remained tight lipped on any further details
IBM
The American insurance giant IBM has spent over $2 million in lobbying for crypto concerns.one of its concerns was the need for congress to arrive at a legally conclusive definition of Blockchain technology.
Entertainment Software Association
This lobby group focused on regulatory certainty turning its sights into the 2019 Q1 to the appropriately named Blockchain regulatory certainty act. It spent $1.18 million on lobbying overall.
Accenture
Accenture is another powerful lobbying group that spent $710,000 in Q1 of 2019 by pushing issues such as artificial intelligence (AI), privacy, and security. Accenture is not just a Blockchain lobbyist but an adoptee of Blockchain technology in recent years having published a number of Blockchain based patents.
Fidelity investments
This firm is slightly behind Accenture in lobbying stakes having spent $640,000 lobbying for a wide range of issues including equity markets, asset management, systemic risk regulation, and off course virtual assets. The lobby group also did a report noting that one of the biggest obstacles to digital asset investment was a lack of clarity around regulation.
These and many other lobby groups have put in a lot of work to boost the crypto space. The importance of such efforts is to provide the crypto industry the stimulus and certainty it deserves in order to grow and develop as strongly as possible.
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