CoinDesk reviewed H1 2026 federal lobbying disclosures and found the crypto industry spent $13 million total — $8 million of it explicitly tied to pushing the CLARITY Act, spread across 42 outside lobbying firms and the industry's own in-house teams. Coinbase led at $2.2 million and placed in the top ten of all securities-and-investment lobbying nationwide, above Goldman Sachs. Kraken spent nearly $1 million. The industry gets a consolation: the bill advanced further than ever before and laid groundwork for the SEC and CFTC regulatory moves now underway. As Coinbase put it — Washington is a long game.
The CFTC sent two rules to the White House for review: one that would classify prediction market event contracts as swaps, and another that would sever them from gambling. If finalized, both positions would directly counter recent federal appellate rulings — the Sixth and Eighth Circuits both said Kalshi's sports contracts are not swaps and are subject to state gambling law, while the Third Circuit ruled the opposite. The Supreme Court may ultimately decide it. Chairman Selig, currently the sole CFTC member, is moving unilaterally on multiple fronts as the states-vs-federal-regulator battle over Kalshi, Polymarket and others intensifies ahead of the midterms.
Open Standard launched OUSD on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo — a new stablecoin designed to spread economics across distributors rather than concentrate them with a single issuer. Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe and Visa are the five founding partners, each holding equal initial equity; together they've committed $1 billion in liquidity. The model is different from USDC or USDT: partners earn equity over time based on how much OUSD supply and activity they generate — not just fees. CEO Zach Abrams, who previously sold Bridge to Stripe for $1.1 billion, put it plainly: "Every other stablecoin is building a fund. We're building money."
