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Crypto Companies Build Lobbying Army to Influence New York’s Rules

A dozen companies, including eToro and Blockchain.com, are spending 100,000 a month.

An advertisement for the Gemini credit card promising crypto rewards outside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York’s Times Square.

An advertisement for the Gemini credit card promising crypto rewards outside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York’s Times Square.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

New York is trying to become the U.S.’s “crypto capital.” Major cryptocurrency companies are hiring an army of lobbyists to influence that outcome.

New filings show that Digital Currency Group, Blockchain.com, and roughly a dozen other firms are spending upwards of $100,000 a month in a $1.5 million Albany lobbying blitz aimed at helping to write the rules governing the $2 billion crypto industry, which remains mostly unregulated at the federal level.