Crypto industry’s top legislative priority implodes

The cryptocurrency industry just lost the lead of a lifetime.

Just last year, banks were so terrified of digital asset companies’ war chest that they scrambled to overhaul their own lobbying. But on Tuesday, senators failed to advance the firms’ top legislative priority, shrugging off the threat of tens of millions of dollars that still could hit them this fall.

President Donald Trump’s crypto adviser had hoped for Republican unity, but even that couldn’t materialize, as baked-in allegiance to banks drove three Republicans to vote no; all Democrats voted no out of concern the bill wouldn’t rein in Trump.

Odds are high lawmakers won’t take up another permanent overhaul of crypto regulation until Trump leaves office.

“The amount of money the crypto industry spent on lobbying firms for such a staggering defeat would have been better spent curing cancer,” one lobbyist told Semafor after the vote.