Taking Stock of Crypto's Washington Power Players: Who is Advocating for US Crypto Regulation?

Original Title: Mapping Crypto's Lobbying Layer

Original Author: David Christopher, Bankless

Original Translation: Saoirse, Foresight News

The policy infrastructure of the crypto industry has become quite mature over the past decade.

From initially being a single think tank in Washington, it has evolved into a full-fledged network consisting of industry associations, advocacy organizations, and ecosystem-specific lobbying entities.

Today's landscape covers both comprehensive industry groups and specialized advocates for specific ecosystems, each playing different roles in advancing the regulatory clarity process.

In February 2026, the Hyperliquid Policy Center was officially established, becoming the latest addition; prior to this, the Solana Policy Research Institute made its debut in 2025.

Let's delve into which institutions are speaking out in the power center of Washington's crypto policy.

Coin Center (2014)

The earliest crypto policy think tank.

Coin Center has been deeply rooted in Washington for over a decade, always advocating for an open blockchain network and user rights, and is also the most ideologically liberal organization in the industry.

Unlike other organizations with industry interests at their core, Coin Center insists on prioritizing individual users: defending users' rights to self-custody, privacy protection, and the right to use crypto assets without being encumbered by onerous tax obligations.

Its core goals for 2026 include:

· Advocating for the "Keep Your Coins Act," which prohibits the federal government from banning self-custody;

· Supporting the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), which clarifies that developers not holding user funds should not be deemed money transmitters;

· Proposing detailed tax reforms: establishing a $600 small transaction exemption threshold, simplifying cost basis reporting, and taxing staking rewards only upon sale, rather than upon receipt.

Taxing staking rewards is a pain point for the entire industry.

The current U.S. Internal Revenue Service treats newly minted coins from staking as current income, causing validators to be taxed even when they have not sold any assets, resulting in extremely high compliance costs.

Coin Center argues for treating staking rewards like other income: taxed upon sale.

Blockchain Association (BA, 2018)

The largest crypto industry association in the U.S., representing 100+ member organizations, including exchanges, miners, DeFi protocols, and infrastructure providers.

If Coin Center speaks based on principles, the Blockchain Association operates in a coalition model: coordinating member interests and translating them into legislative priorities.

Current focuses include:

· Tax equity, market structure legislation, DeFi protection;

· Formal release of tax principles, calling for small exemptions, stablecoins treated as cash equivalents, and localizing perpetual contract laws;

· Strong support for BRCA and broader developer protection provisions.

DeFi Education Fund (DEF, 2021)

Originally funded by Uniswap governance, with a specific focus on decentralized finance.

Its work revolves around three pillars: protecting software developers, empowering DeFi users, and defending permissionless blockchains.

At the developer level:

DEF advocates for exempting builders from liability when third parties misuse tools, opposing forcing developers into regulatory frameworks designed for custodial intermediaries. In alignment with Coin Center and the Blockchain Association, DEF equally strongly supports BRCA (Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act).

At the user level:

Promoting self-custody, privacy protection, reducing reliance on trusted third parties, and emphasizing financial inclusivity—permissionless networks allow users to bypass gatekeepers and access financial services freely.

DEF's approach leans more towards legal and research: submitting amicus briefs, regulatory comments, releasing educational materials, operating the influential "DeFi Debrief" newsletter, and continually advocating for BRCA's inclusion in comprehensive market structure legislation.

Solana Policy Research Institute (2025)

The industry's first public blockchain ecosystem-specific policy institution, co-founded by the former CEO of the DeFi Education Fund and the former CEO of the Blockchain Association.

It aligns with both the industry-wide core demands (developer protection, staking tax reform) and closely serves the Solana ecosystem strategy.

Core Feature Agenda:

· Project Open: Drive the security tokenization pilot, allowing issuers to register equity on-chain as digital tokens, achieving instant settlement and transparent ownership records, positioning Solana as the infrastructure for expanding traditional capital markets;

· Support the "Access to Equal Investment Opportunities Act": Expand the accredited investor definition, no longer just looking at wealth thresholds, but including knowledge qualifications. The organization points out that current rules exclude 87% of Americans from the private placement market.

Hyperliquid Policy Center (2026)

The newest and most vertically positioned crypto policy institution, established with a $29 million investment from the Hyper Foundation, with the sole core mission: to achieve compliant domestic implementation of perpetual futures in the United States.

Led by the former Chief Policy Officer of the Blockchain Association, HPC precisely targets the regulatory gap of decentralized derivatives – this is Hyperliquid's core business and one of the fastest-growing tracks in the crypto industry.

Institutional Objectives:

Educate policymakers on the operational logic of non-custodial trading protocols to drive a regulatory framework for intermediary-free custody.

Highly Strategic Timing:

While the "Clarity Act" is stalled in the Senate, HPC seizes the window of opportunity to specifically shape the regulatory layer's understanding of DeFi derivatives.

Its Core Argument:

Regardless, the perpetual contract market will flow overseas and towards decentralized protocols; the U.S. either establishes a framework to compete or entirely cedes the market.

Data shows that the perpetual contract trading volume reached $92.7 trillion in 2025.

Industry-wide Consensus and Differences

Despite the positioning and scope differences of the five institutions, they are highly aligned on core demands:

Common Goals:

· Developer Protection: Almost all support BRCA, making it clear that developers not custoding funds are not money transmitters;

· Staking Tax Reform: Block Reward / Staking Reward taxed at sale, not receipt;

· User self-custody rights; small-value transaction tax exemption.

Direction of Differences:

· Coin Center: Upholding principles, focusing on privacy and user rights;

· Blockchain Association: Coordinating interests of 100+ industry members;

· DeFi Education Fund: Deepening DeFi sub-sector regulation and legal support;

· Solana / Hyperliquid Policy Institutions: Ecosystem-specific, with agendas closely aligned with their core ecosystem businesses (security tokenization, perpetual contracts).

These institutions collectively define the industry's underlying values, while also preserving specialized advancement space for key niche issues, marking the U.S. crypto industry's transition from a "unified voice" to a "professional, ecosystem-focused, and refined" policy era.

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