Crypto industry helping write, and pass, its own agenda in state capitols

Regulators warn ‘rolling out the red carpet’ carries ‘big risks’

By Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany

TALLAHASSEE — The debate took less than four minutes.

In the Florida House last month, legislators swiftly gave final approval to a bill that makes it easier to buy and sell cryptocurrency, eliminating a threat from a law intended to curb money laundering. One of the few pauses in the action came when two House members stood up to thank crypto industry “stakeholders” for teaming with state officials to write a draft of the bill.

“Whether you’re Binance or Ethereum, Dogecoin or Bitcoin, this is a great bill,” said Rep. John Snyder, R-Palm City, referring to crypto exchanges and coins.

Shortly afterward, the House voted unanimously to pass the measure. The Senate followed, sending the bill to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature after 75 seconds of deliberations.

Florida’s warm embrace of the cryptocurrency agenda is just the tip of an aggressive industry-led push to position states as crypto-friendly beachheads. Across the nation, crypto executives and lobbyists are helping to draft bills to benefit the fast-growing industry, then pushing lawmakers to adopt these made-toorder laws, before moving rapidly to profit from the legislative victories.

The effort is part of an emerging national strategy by the crypto industry, in the absence of comprehensive federal regulatory demands, to work state by state to engineer a more friendly legal system. Lobbyists are aiming to clear the way for the continued explosive growth of cryptocurrency companies, which are trying to revolutionize banking, e-commerce and even art and music.

Many states are racing to satisfy the wish lists from crypto companies and their lobbyists, betting that the industry can generate new jobs. But some consumer advocates worry that this aim-to-please effort could leave investors and businesses more vulnerable to the scams and risky prac