TL;DR: Crypto spent $13 million on D.C. lobbyists in early 2026, including $8 million on the failed CLARITY Act, while the $TRUMP memecoin announced a third holder dinner despite a ~97% price drop. Crypto PACs are targeting Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Stand with Crypto released a bipartisan slate of midterm endorsements.
Key Takeaways:
Brief History: The CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633) is a U.S. bill introduced in 2025 to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets and define the roles of the SEC and CFTC. It passed key House committees in June 2025 and advanced to House consideration in July.
Timeline Box to the CLARITY Act
- May 2024: The House passed FIT21, laying the groundwork for new rules governing digital assets.
- June 10, 2025: House committees advanced the CLARITY Act in bipartisan votes, moving the bill toward a full House vote.
- July 2025: The House passed the CLARITY Act, sending the market-structure bill to the Senate.
- May 2026: The Senate Banking Committee advanced its version of the CLARITY Act after months of negotiations.
- September 10, 2026: Updated text released: Sen. Cynthia Lummis released another updated version ahead of the planned September 15 Senate vote.
- September 14, 2026: Senate Republicans released a revised version after incorporating dozens of Democratic proposals.
- September 15, 2026: The Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a 49–50 vote, leaving the legislation stalled.
The crypto sector keeps blaming Democrats for legislative setbacks, but the ethical elephant in the room keeps stomping all over their narrative.
Last month’s failure of the Senate’s digital asset market structure bill (the CLARITY Act) was a bitter pill for the crypto sector to swallow, even if regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are doing their best to pick up this fumble and advance the rulemaking ball on their own.
But imagine the simmering rage of crypto’s leading lights as reports emerge that the industry spent $13 million on D.C. lobbyists over the first half of 2026, of which $8 million was spent specifically on getting CLARITY over the finish line. (This outlay is exclusive of funding for crypto advocacy groups or the sector’s campaign financing contributions.)
Predictably, the Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) digital asset exchange had the highest tab ($2.2 million), with the Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) venture capital group (NASDAQ: ZADIHX) in second place with $1.5 million. A trio of exchanges filled out the top five (Binance: $1.4 million, Crypto.com: $1.2 million, Kraken: $930,000).
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently came under fire for his allegedly brusque dealings with senators of both parties, to the point that some started ducking his calls. Armstrong denied these reports, but his social media feed is dotted with veiled threats against politicians who dare stand athwart the sector’s progress. (More on this below.)
In January, Armstrong was criticized by both members of Congress and other sector bigwigs after he abruptly withdrew his support for CLARITY ahead of a Senate hearing. Former SEC official Corey Frayer told CoinDesk this week that the CLARITY push suffered from “very big internal infighting and a lack of unification among the industry on significant policy decisions in the bill.”
Frayer wasn’t surprised that the famously independent-minded sector failed to achieve its aims. “Crypto companies tend to ignore the advice of experienced compliance people that they hire; they ignore the advice of outside law firms; and I would not be surprised if they spent a lot of money on lobbyists, both internal and external, whose advice they ignore.”
Coming next year: A visit to the Rotten Ronnies closest to Mar-a-Lago
Like Caesar, CLARITY died with several knives in its belly. There was the stablecoin ‘rewards’ issue; the question of how much legal protection to offer decentralized finance (DeFi) developers when their platforms were used by criminals; and Democrats’ demands that President Trump respect tradition and fill at least some of the empty SEC/CFTC seats with members of the minority party, to name a few.
But the 800 lb. crypto gorilla in this room was the ‘ethics’ issue, aka Dems’ desire to rein in Trump’s crypto profiteering while he simultaneously advocated for regulatory changes and policy positions that would make those profits grow even larger.
Republicans claimed the proposed ethics language was an unprecedented restraint on a sitting president, but Dems claimed the restraints were illusory and relied on Trump’s own appointees to bite the hand that feeds.
That hand has now gone right back to feeding the mouth it’s attached to. This week, the company behind the $TRUMP memecoin announced its latest ‘dinner’ for the token’s largest holders. The Most Exclusive Dinner in the World will take place at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington on November 22.
This is the third event in which individuals wishing to breathe the same oxygen as the president are being asked to buy more of his memecoin. The ‘dinner with Trump’ at Trump National in May 2025 was limited to the top 220 token holders, while the ‘gala luncheon’ at Mar-a-Lago this spring was hosted by 297. The current contest is paring this down to 185. The token derby will run until November 12.
While the 2025 event promised a ‘special VIP tour’ to the top 25 holders, this year’s event will offer the top 29 holders a ‘VIP reception’ while the top four will get a TRUMP 18K Gold Watch (sales must be slow). Given recent events, we suspect Tron founder Justin Sun (last year’s top token holder) won’t be attending this year’s soirée.
The November shindig is also teasing the appearance of three ‘legends’ and/or ‘superstars,’ whose identities are TBA. While we can only hope it’s the three ghosts that visited Scrooge on Christmas Eve, we suspect it’s more likely to be Trump’s three sons, because the family that grifts together, something something.
Following its release a couple of days before Trump took his second oath of office in January 2025, $TRUMP’s price briefly soared to over $73 but has since fallen by ~97% from that peak. The dinner news gave $TRUMP a brief spike to $2.24 on Wednesday, but has since slid back closer to $2.
$TRUMP was a major contributor to the over $1 billion the president earned off his crypto ventures last year, with reports indicating that Trump’s gains were offset by similarly sized losses among token holders, many of whom bought the tokens because of their love for the president.
However, there are signs that a line may have been crossed. Following CLARITY’s demise, some prominent figures in the crypto sector flagged Trump’s ethical issues as the primary contributor. The Washington Post published an article this week detailing the fading enthusiasm for Trump among young men, many of them avid crypto supporters. Some of those quoted were among those invited to previous $TRUMP events, but at least one now believes the entire $TRUMP saga was “a rug pull.”
Maybe Sherrod Brown should issue a memecoin
Crypto bigwigs likely won’t bat an eye at Trump’s latest cash grab. They might even try to blame it on Democrats for failing to accept CLARITY’s toothless ethics language. They already blame the Dems for CLARITY’s demise, so what’s one more addition to this burn book?
The crypto sector’s primary campaign finance weapon is the Fairshake political action committee (PAC), which is primarily backed by Coinbase, a16z, and XRP-issuer Ripple Labs. Fairshake spent $130 million in 2024 to elect crypto-friendly politicians and defeat crypto skeptics, and the PAC has around $120 million left to spend on November’s midterms.
In 2024, Fairshake spent $40 million to defeat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a crypto critic who chaired the Senate Banking Committee. Brown is mounting a comeback bid this year against Jon Husted, the Republican appointed by Trump in 2025 after J.D. Vance became vice president. Last week, Fairshake announced it would spend $30 million to ensure an encore of Brown’s defeat.
This week, a different crypto PAC joined the Brown-bashing brigade. The Digital Freedom Fund (DFF), a PAC announced in August 2025 by the Winklevoss twins behind the Gemini (NASDAQ: GEMI) digital asset platform, had been utterly inactive since its announcement, but has finally found its voice (and its wallet).
Federal filings show DFF allocating nearly $3 million to boost Husted’s chances of prevailing in November. Politico reported that half the sum would be spent on direct mail supporting Husted, while the other half would pay for mail claiming Brown is ugly and his mama dresses him funny.
As if Brown didn’t have enough problems, he learned last weekend that half of the ads he’s been running on Facebook “went dark with no notice” and he’s “still not entirely sure why.” Politico later quoted a spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company, Meta (NASDAQ: META), apologizing for the “error” that “impacted the delivery of ads for several advertisers.”
Call us cynical, but it probably hasn’t gone unnoticed in the Meta camp that Brown’s most successful attack line against Husted is the latter’s support for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Meta is, of course, a major supporter of AI expansion, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg flagged as the chief architect of this week’s ‘morally binding’ White House Accord on Super Intelligence.
Regardless of the fact that it seems like the entire tech sector has its knives out for Brown, recent polls show him holding a slim lead over Husted. Perhaps those Dems who’ve been arguing that the public now views tech sector backing through a pejorative lens were on to something after all.
Stand with Crypto fights to walk bipartisan tightrope
The Winklevii’s DFF has also allocated $418,000 to support Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) in her bid to win the Senate seat left open by Republican Joni Ernst, who opted against running for re-election. Hinson’s opponent is the Iowa Democratic state representative, Josh Turek.
Both Hinson and Turek received an ‘A’ rating from the Coinbase-funded astroturf group Stand with Crypto (SwC), so it’s not clear why Turek is getting the bum’s rush from DFF, other than the fact that the Winklevii have made it clear their campaign cash is to support Republicans, regardless of a candidate’s views.
On September 30, SwC issued its ‘bipartisan endorsements’ of seven candidates contesting the midterms, a list that includes Hinson and Husted. Other GOP figures getting SwC’s blessing are Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ohio House hopeful Derek Merrin.
As for Dems, New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas got the nod in his state’s Senate race against GOP incumbent John Sununu. In the House, Rep. Shomari Figures (D-AL) gets a thumbs-up, as does Pennsylvania hopeful Janelle Stelson in her bid to dethrone GOP incumbent Scott Perry.
SwC also “committed additional advertising resources” in six House races, an evenly divided group of two Dem incumbents, two GOP incumbents, and one aspiring candidate from each party. SwC believes these races “will be especially influential in determining how pro- or anti-crypto the 120th Congress will be.” They lose points for repeating ‘will be’ twice, but perhaps one of those is a Republican, and the other is a Democrat.
FAQs:
Why did the CLARITY Act fail?
The bill collapsed over stablecoin rewards, DeFi developer protections, SEC/CFTC minority-party seats, and Democrats’ demands for limits on Trump’s crypto profits. Industry infighting also played a role.
How much did crypto spend on lobbying in 2026?
Crypto spent $13 million on D.C. lobbyists in the first half of 2026, with $8 million aimed at the CLARITY Act. That excludes advocacy group funding and campaign contributions.
Who spent the most on crypto lobbying?
Coinbase spent the most at $2.2 million. Andreessen Horowitz followed with $1.5 million, then Binance with $1.4 million, Crypto.com with $1.2 million, and Kraken with $930,000.
When is the next $TRUMP dinner?
The dinner is on November 22 at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington. The token contest runs until November 12 and is limited to the top 185 holders.
How much is $TRUMP coin worth now?
$TRUMP trades at around $2, roughly 97% below its January 2025 peak of over $73.
Why is crypto spending against Sherrod Brown?
Brown is a crypto critic. Fairshake plans $30 million against him, and the Digital Freedom Fund is adding nearly $3 million to support Republican Jon Husted.
Who did Stand with Crypto endorse?
On September 30, it endorsed seven candidates, including Republicans Ashley Hinson and Jon Husted and Democrats Chris Pappas and Shomari Figures.
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