Crypto lending platform BlockFi, which was fined a record $100 million earlier this year by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and government officials, has become the latest company in the crypto industry to hire lobbyists.
BlockFi has engaged a five-person policy team with law and lobby firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, including partner Mark Epley and head of the legislative and public policy enforcement group Kevin O’Neill, according to Reuters. The dossier states that the team will work on “regulatory and tax policy for financial service providers in digital assets.”
Crypto has been a growing industry for lobbying, with the industry spending $9 million on lobbying in 2021, according to a Public Citizen March report quoted by Reuters.
A spokesperson for BlockFi told Reuters the company is “willing to engage” with policymakers to help define the regulatory and tax environment for digital assets.
