Crypto's failed lobbying for Clarity: $8 million for zero Democratic votes

00:00 Speaker A

Clarity Act. Clarity Act. Two shots.

00:02 Speaker A

Crypto industry gave 8 million to Clarity Act lobbyists who didn't close the deal. In fact, crypto spent 8 million lobbying for the Clarity Act out of a total 13 million in the first half of 2023 and got precisely zero Democratic votes.

00:15 Speaker A

Now, we all know that no Democrat was going to vote for it unless they believed that all the other Democrats that needed to pass it were going to vote for it, but still, a vote of 49.50 after spending $8 million on, I believe, 42 outside lobbying firms just to get the Clarity Act passed and had zero to show for it.

00:35 Speaker A

Now, I'm old enough to remember when people say that the crypto industry and their money bought the election for Donald Trump. They were too powerful. Well, they're not even powerful enough to get one democratic vote for market structure and the clarity Act.

00:48 Speaker A

Now, it says that Coinbase led the efforts from a corporate perspective, 2.2 million in spending. Kraken spent a million dollars. And once again, after all of that,

01:00 Speaker A

uh we saw nothing for it.

01:03 Speaker A

Clarity Act did not pass. Now, maybe, you know, it's a different world and the ethics clause and all these things were too large of obstacles to surmount.