Autor Cointelegraph By Aaron Wood

Standard Chartered head of digital assets research Geoff Kendrick predicted in a recent research note that assets in DeFi could reach $2.7 trillion by 2030.He said that, currently, only 3% of stablecoins and 10% of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) are used in DeFi. However, he predicts this will rise to 30% by 2030.That would be a 37-fold increase from where they are now, but the growing tempo of tokenization gives Kendrick reason for an optimistic outlook. The market for tokenized real-world assets — which includes stocks, bonds, real estate, gold, and carbon credits — hit $32.22 billion in distributed on-chain value by the end of June. That’s almost three times the roughly $11.8 billion RWA market from a year earlier. Add stablecoins, which are just tokenized real world fiat, into the mix, and the broader tokenized market sits north of $328.8 billion.Total RWA asset holders have grown to 937,928, up 13% last month alone, according to data from RWA.xyz.Here’s a closer look at exactly what is driving growth across different RWA verticals. US Treasuries US Treasury bills, notes, and bonds are the largest tokenized asset category by on-chain value at $15 billion. They’re familiar for investors, low-risk, liquid and generate yield — something that stablecoins can’t do yet.Launched in March 2024, Blackrock’s BUIDL fund reached over $2.9 billion in total asset value by June 2025. It’s currently at $2.23 billion as some funds declined due to capital reallocation and competition between platforms. It has distributed more than $100 million dividends and operates on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Aptos, and BNB Chain.Source: RWA.xyzIn February 2026, Uniswap Labs and Securitize announced that BUIDL shares were available for trade on UniswapX. This put a major, regulated, institutional tokenized fund on a decentralized exchange (albeit with restrictions on who can buy and sell it).“This is the unlock we’ve been working toward: bringing the trust and regulatory standards of traditional finance to the speed and openness for which DeFi is known,” said Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize.Related: Philippine SEC signals readiness for RWA tokenizationA similar product is Franklin Templeton’s OnChain US Government Money Fund, which is represented in the form of the BENJI token. It has reached $2.44 billion and runs on Avalanche, Arbitrum, Aptos, Base, and BNB Chain, Stellar, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon.Source: RWA.xyzOther significant Treasury products include Circle’s USYC ($3.1 billion), Ondo’s suite ($3.7 billion) and WisdomTree’s WTGXX ($764 million).Private CreditPrivate credit — loans that are issued, negotiated and held by non-bank institutions — is another fast growing category within RWAs.  The appeal is similar to that of Treasuries, but private credit provides higher yields than government debt. Furthermore, tokenization helps add liquidity to the private credit sector, which is known for years-long capital lockups. A corporate treasurer or asset manager can now hold private credit positions that are transferable on-chain, usable as collateral, and redeemable.The largest platforms for issuing tokenized private credit are Maple Finance and Stokr. Each has about 22% market share, according to RWA.xyz. The total value of tokenized private credit is about $6.2 billion. Stocks and ETFsCurrently, stocks represent a modest proportion of overall tokenized assets with just $2.19 billion, according to RWA.xyz.  That’s up by almost 50% in just the past thirty days, so it is growing very quickly, and is set for a further major boost soon. In May, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced plans to pilot tokenized securities trading. DTCC clears and settles almost all US stock trades and custodies over $114 trillion in securities. The pilots are slated to begin this month, with a full commercial launch possible by October.  The assets in the pilot include Russell 1000 equities, major index ETFs, and US Treasuries. More than 50 financial firms are participating, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Circle, Ondo Finance, and Ripple Prime. Ondo Finance now holds roughly 60% of the tokenized equity market through its Global Markets platform. In March 2026 it entered a partnership with Franklin Templeton to tokenize five ETFs.In April, it formed another partnership with Broadridge Financial Solutions to let holders of tokenized stocks and ETFs to submit voting preferences for underlying shares.Source: RWA.xyzGold and commodities Tokenized gold, the largest sub-category within tokenized commodities, has been around for years, but 2026 gave it an unexpected stress test.When US–Iran tensions escalated in early 2026, traditional markets were closed. Tokenized oil and gold markets were not. After the US and Israel attacked Iran early this year, Wall Street trading desks increasingly found themselves using on-chain perpetual futures platforms as the only available venue for pricing gold, oil, and other risk-off assets during off-hours.Weekend volumes on on-chain commodity perpetuals have increased ninefold since the beginning of 2026. Onchain perpetual futures for commodities now make up more than 67% of builder-deployed contracts on DEXs.The takeaway is that tokenized commodities, which trade on markets that never close, can provide a real advantage amid geopolitical turmoil, which doesn’t happen based on market hours.Tokenized commodities hit $5.8 billion in March 2026 and have pulled back to $4.7 billion currently, with gold making up a substantial majority of that. Tokenized gold volumes have increasingly begun to move in concert with traditional gold markets. This correlation was historically weak but crossed the 0.70 threshold in Q1 2026, suggesting the onchain market is maturing.Real estateReal estate tokenization has been more of a promise to date than a reality at scale. As a slice of the RWA pie, real estate represents just $202.7 million in assets at present, but that’s only going to grow with its entry into a couple of major, regulated markets this year.Dubai’s Land Department began the second phase of its real estate tokenization project in February 2026, opening tokenized property units for resale. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission also approved real estate tokenization products from Derlin Holdings in the same quarter. Real estate tokenization offers fractional ownership to investors who cannot afford the high cost of entry for real estate investment. The token represents a share of the building, which can offer proportional rents and the ability to trade their position without waiting for a property sale. Source: RWA.xyzRWAs are still relatively smallTokenized real-world assets are growing, but still have a long way to go. Tokenized Treasury products are the largest and most mature category of RWAs, representing almost $15 billion. This is still dwarfed by the traditional US Treasury market of some $30 trillion.Tokenized stocks are a rounding error compared to the DTCC’s $114 trillion worth of assets under custody. Liquidity is also still pretty thin, with many RWAs seeing low secondary trading and long holding periods.But regulators are beginning to get on board. In March, the SEC approved a Nasdaq proposal to allow certain stocks to be traded and settled via tokens. Analysts and observers are expecting a more broad approval of stock token trading in the near future, with SEC Chair Paul Atkins likely to give RWAs the go-ahead through an “innovation exemption.”The now appears to no longer be whether real-world assets will be tokenized, but how quickly.

The election season is ramping up in the United States, meaning that airwaves and social media are flooded with campaign ads.Candidates, in addition to the political action committees (PACs) supporting and opposing them, are projected to spend a record-breaking $10 billion in ads this cycle. Some of that is going into AI deepfakes. At least 15 AI-generated campaign ads have run since November, according to NBC News. Some have used deepfakes to portray a candidate doing or saying things that compromise their campaign’s image.Transparency advocates say the ads, which are illegal in some states, could harm the integrity of American elections.Ad runs afoul of local election lawsIn the context of campaign ads, AI is mostly governed at the state level. Some 28 states have disclosure laws, while in two states, it is prohibited, though not totally. In Minnesota, one ad campaign has already bumped up against local legislation. Minnesota Lt. Governor Penny Flanagan posted on BlueSky on June 3 “you might see a TV ad starring something that… kind of looks like me.”Flanagan was referring to an ad run by a PAC supporting her opponent in the Senate primary race, fellow Democrat and US Representative Angie Craig. The ad shows Flanagan standing atop a large pile of cash, and criticizes her alleged ties to special interest groups.“My opponent’s super PAC is using an AI deepfake of me to mislead voters. They can’t win with the truth – so they’re resorting to lies.”“It’s disgusting. Minnesotans deserve better.”The ad may run afoul of Minnesota campaign laws. In 2023, Democratic State Representative Maye Quade introduced a bill that bans AI deepfakes. It was passed into law, and “anyone who widely shares a deep fake within 90 days of an election” is guilty of a crime. This, provided that the person also:Knows or should have known the ad was a deepfake and made without the consent of the depicted personActed with the intent to harm a candidate’s reputation to influence an electionThe ads ran after the DFL, Minnesota’s Democratic party, nominated Flanagan, so technically it may have not violated the law. Still, Flanagan’s campaign is reportedly consulting lawyers.Quade told local media that the ad violated the spirit of the law, and that people in general don’t like AI being used this way. “People don’t like this, broadly […] What campaign on either side of the aisle is going to help voters feel good about their candidate using this?”Related: Prediction markets legal battles heat up in Minnesota, Rhode IslandOn the Democratic side of the aisle, 40 DFL state legislators signed a letter condemning the use of AI deepfakes in campaign materials. They noted that, in 2023, “lawmakers voted nearly unanimously to ban the use of deceptive AI-generated deepfakes in elections, recognizing the threat manipulated AI content poses to voters and public trust.”“Regardless of party, the use of AI-generated deepfakes in campaign advertising is unacceptable.”Mark Jablonowski, the CEO of advertising firm DSPolitical, told NBC that he thinks most politicians will rise above it. “I think most campaigns on both sides of the aisle probably want to do the right thing […] There, of course, are going to be examples that you can point to where people are going about it the wrong way.”The PAC that issued the ad, North Star Dawn PAC, did not respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. What do election laws say about AI deepfakes?As noted above, some 30 states have laws on the books regarding AI use in elections. The vast majority of these relate to simple disclosure, with many states only having civil penalties for infractions. The Federal Elections Commission (FEC), the regulator responsible for creating funding, disclosure and other rules concerning elections. Regarding ads, the FEC told Cointelegraph:“Commission regulations require clear and conspicuous disclaimers to appear on certain campaign advertisements, including public communications that are distributed by a federal candidate’s campaign committee.There is also a prohibition against ‘fraudulent misrepresentation.’”Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, submitted a petition for rulemaking before the FEC in 2023, asking the commission to issue rules for AI. Instead, the body “decided not to initiate a rulemaking.”“The Commission determined that the statute’s fraudulent misrepresentation ban is technology neutral, applying to all means of the specified fraud, including AI-assisted media.”One may not expect quick action from the federal government, at least not from Congress, on AI. In 2023, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Yvette Clarke, both Democrats, introduced the REAL Political Advertisements Act in their respective chambers. However, the bill failed to pass in either house. If anything, the US Congress shows a total unwillingness to meaningfully regulate AI. Nearly one year ago, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. The final version narrowly avoided including a 10-year ban on any state and local regulation of AI, giving the industry carte blanche for anything from building data centers to how AI would be used in popular media. Now, two Congressmen are back at it. Democrat Lori Trahan and Republican Jay Obernolte on June 4 introduced a bill that, if passed, would ban states from passing laws “targeting artificial intelligence model development.”According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “This could include anything from privacy regulations to antidiscrimination requirements to AI safety laws.”The ACLU noted that the aforementioned 10-year ban was stripped from the Senate file in a near-unanimous 99-1 vote. Jina John, senior policy counsel for AI, privacy and technology at the ACLU, said, “This draft bill fails to learn from Congress’s previous attempts to block state AI regulations. States must be able to protect their own residents from harm, hold tech companies accountable, and ensure that AI is safe and trustworthy.”Magazine: Korea probes Polymarket users, crypto PACs sweep primaries: Hodler’s Digest, May 31- June 6

The US Senate Banking Committee passed the crypto framework CLARITY Act yesterday.Now, the bill, for which the crypto industry has heavily lobbied since it was introduced in 2025, will head to the Senate floor for a broader debate. As Cointelegraph reported, over 100 amendments were proposed while lawmakers hashed out the exact language of the bill. These covered a wide range of issues, including ethics, AI sandboxes and stablecoin yields.But many of these fell apart. While two Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues, the vote was mainly along party lines. The chances for the bill to pass look good, with nearly all Republicans and some Democrats supporting, but increasing partisan gridlock ahead of the elections could still delay passage. CLARITY gets out of committee on party linesAfter yesterday’s session, Senator and committee chairman Tim Scott announced “a successful bipartisan markup” in advance of the bill proceeding to the Senate floor.Scott speaks at the markup session. Source: US Senate“After nearly a year of good-faith bipartisan negotiations, Senate Banking Committee Republicans and Democrats came together today,” he said.While the tone of Scott’s announcement leaned on supposed bipartisanship, the actual vote was mostly split along party lines. All 13 Republican members of the committee voted to advance the bill. All but two Democrats voted against, save for Senators Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks.Contrary to Scott’s message of bipartisanship, Senator Jack Reed stated that Republicans arbitrarily dismissed Democrats’ concerns about the bill, which ranged from how crypto could enable crime to the president’s use of crypto projects for personal enrichment. Indeed, the minority released a brief after the vote, outlining its concerns. They stated that the current version, as passed by the majority, fails to adopt global anti-money laundering standards, exempts DeFi protocols from financial standards and doesn’t close loopholes for crypto mixer services. Related: Who supports CLARITY on the US Senate Banking Committee?While there are clearly some pro-crypto Democrats in Congress, whether the bill can progress depends on them crossing the aisle to vote against their own party. Currently, the Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the 100-seat Senate. To pass CLARITY, they’ll need 60 votes, so at least seven Democrats willing to vote with them. Republicans (red) hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate.At the Wyoming Blockchain Summit last year, Scott said that there were 12 Democrats open to the market structure bill, giving Republicans and the crypto lobby what they need to cross the line.But that may not ring as true now as it did then. The Congressional Progressive Caucus announced opposition to any bill which could “allow the President and his family to enrich themselves, engage in corruption, and sell access to the White House through cryptocurrency.” Notably, CLARITY’s current draft does not contain any such provisions. Progressive groups have called on lawmakers to address these concerns. A group of organizations including Americans for Financial Reform, Demand Progress Action, Indivisible and Public Citizen wrote a letter on May 8.“A bill without strong ethics provisions elevates the dangers of cheating consumers and investors, distorting and destabilizing financial markets, hindering competition, eroding longstanding investor protection laws, and making a mockery of regulatory enforcement,” they said.Ryan Cooper, a senior editor at progressive politics publication The American Prospect, even suggested that Democrats who voted with the crypto industry ought to be primaried. “Allowing yourself to be bought by the crypto lobby is unforgivable,” he wrote. Ethics could represent a politically volatile and important sticking point as the bill is debated on the Senate floor. Industry still optimistic Despite the largely partisan vote and the lingering ethics concerns, the crypto industry was largely optimsitc about the May 14 markup session. Javier Martinez, CEO and former chief legal officer at crypto trading platform sFOX, said the vote represented a “major step toward resolving crypto’s regulatory identity crisis in the United States.”Congress is “moving toward replacing regulatory ambiguity with a more defined legal framework. And markets respond to clarity,” he told Cointelegraph.Ji Hun Kim of the Crypto Council for Innovation said the vote will make the US more competitive in the digital asset space. CLARITY will “ensure that our country leads when it comes to digital assets policy and innovation,” he said. Blockchain investors and Blockstreet chief operating officer Kyle Chasse said, “This is the biggest regulatory moment in crypto since spot ETFs.”Notably, the bill was held up for months as the banking and crypto lobbies argued over whether stablecoins could bear yields. Banks claimed this could lead to a critical flight of deposits, endangering financial stability, while crypto accused banks of stifling competition.The version that passed markup last night sided with the banks, but would still allow crypto platforms to offer other activity-based rewards. Even then, pseudonymous crypto trader 10 Delta said, “The yield ‘ban’ is cosmetic & simply something for banks to tout as a victory.” “It bans stablecoins from paying you interest for just holding them: the way a savings account does. But it explicitly allows stablecoins to pay you rewards for using them: buying things, lending, providing liquidity, participating in any program.”Ultimately, the focus is still on the market. Alexander Lorenzo, founder and chief investment officer of CoinPicks Capital, said, “The last crypto bill to clear this exact process was the GENIUS Act in July 2025. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $123,000 within weeks.”“CLARITY is bigger. It covers the entire crypto market, not just stablecoins.”Magazine: eToro founder timed Bitcoin top perfectly due to belief in 4 year cycles

The CLARITY Act, the crypto lobby’s long-awaited regulatory framework, is finally headed to a markup session in the United States Senate Banking Committee.It’s been a long road. The bill passed the House of Representatives on July 17, 2025, and has since been in deliberation in the Senate. Most recently, the crypto and banking lobbies were at loggerheads over whether stablecoins could offer interest, further delaying progress.The two industry interest groups appear to have reached an agreement. However, this does not mean that the bill is finished. Indeed, far from it, as members could introduce contentious amendments, vote against reporting the bill to the Senate floor, or not produce a quorum. With the vote set for May 14, here’s a quick look at who supports the bill on the Senate Banking Committee. SupportersTim Scott (R-SC)Source: US SenateAs Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Scott has led the group’s work on CLARITY, stating his desire to make the US “the crypto capital of the world.” He was also a cosponsor of the GENIUS Act regulating stablecoins, and voted for SAB 121, a resolution that made pro-crypto amendments to US banking standards. Scott received an A grade from Coinbase’s crypto policy tracking site Stand With Crypto. Mike Crapo (R-ID)Source: US SenateSenator Crapo supported the GENIUS Act, as well as SAB 121 and SJ Resolution 3. The latter was a Senate Resolution that disapproved of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requiring DeFi services to collect user data. While supporting the crypto industry with his votes, in his statements, Crapo has noted the need to create regulations with some investor protections. In a February 2018 statement, he said, “Technology is forward-looking, and we look to our regulators to continue carrying out their mandates, including investor protection, as the markets evolve.”Crapo received an A from Stand With Crypto.Mike Rounds (R-SD)Source: US SenateIn addition to many of his Republican colleagues, Senator Rounds voted for GENIUS, SAB 121, and SJ Resolution 3. Amid the pro-crypto furor that followed US President Donald Trump entering office, Rounds harshly criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration on its approach to crypto.As the banking and crypto lobbies debated CLARITY, Rounds called for open negotiations, saying the public must have a chance to see what’s going on. Rounds himself has violated federal transparency laws by failing to disclose stock trades.Rounds received an A from Stand With Crypto.Thom Tillis (R-NC)Source: US SenateTillis voted yes on GENIUS, SAB 121 and SJ Resolution 3. He also supported the Equal Opportunity for all Investors Act which, if it had passed, would have expanded who could have been considered a qualified investor under US securities law. He supported the Trump administration’s decision to allow 401(k) retirement plans to invest in cryptocurrenciesTillis said that the current form of CLARITY, which prohibits stablecoin rewards from resembling interest on bank deposits, but allows other forms of rewards, “helps put us on a bipartisan path to pass the CLARITY Act.”Tillis received an A from Stand With Crypto.John Neely Kennedy (R-LA)Source: US SenateKennedy has supported pro-crypto regulations in the Senate like GENIUS, SAB 121 and SJ Resolution 3. In an October 2025 statement on the floor of the US Senate, Kennedy said that the market structure bill would be “one of the most important pieces of legislation that this body will consider.”Kennedy received an A from Stand With Crypto.Bill Hagerty (R-TN)Source: Bill HagertySenator Hagerty is very pro-crypto, introducing the GENIUS Act to the Senate as a co-sponser. He also co-sponsored SJ Resolution 3, voted for SAB 121, and co-sponsored the Capital Gains Inflation Relief Act of 2023. The latter proposed indexing tax of certain assets, like Bitcoin, to inflation to reduce capital gains taxes on long-term investments. It didn’t pass.Hagerty has said on many occasions that CLARITY is needed to make American markets more competitive. “In the race to lead in digital assets, America’s markets are our competitive edge,” he said in April.Hagerty received an A from Stand With Crypto.Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)Source: Cynthia LummisSenator Lummis has long been an advocate for the crypto industry in the United States. She co-sponsored GENIUS and sponsored the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act of 2026.The latter would acknowledge that blockchain developers and infrastructure providers don’t have control over users’ digital assets, and therefore cannot be classified as money transmitters under federal law. It has been referred to the banking committee.She has also sponsored a bill to create a “Mined in America” certification for Bitcoin miners. This would ostensibly encourage miners to locate in the US rather than set up compute infrastructure overseas. Ahead of the markup sessions, she said, “After nearly a year of bipartisan work, this markup brings us one step closer to cementing America’s place as the global leader in financial innovation.”Lummis received an A from Stand With Crypto.Katie Britt (R-AL)Source: US SenateSenator Britt has supported several pro-crypto bills, voting for SAB 121, GENIUS and SJ Resolution 3. Like many of her colleagues, Britt has made crypto regulation an issue of national competition. She wrote on X in 2021, “Supporting #Bitcoin means supporting personal freedom, American competitiveness and national security.”Britt received an A from Stand With Crypto.Pete Ricketts (R-NE)Source: US SenateSenator Ricketts has supported the GENIUS Act, SJ Resolution 3 as well as SAB 121. In regulating the cryptocurrency market, he said the goal was “making sure the digital asset market is both innovative and predictable.”Ricketts received an A from Stand With Crypto.Jim Banks (R-IN)Source: US SenateSenator Banks is a reliable pro-crypto vote on the Senate Banking Committee. He supported the GENIUS Act and cosponsored SJ Resolution 3. He previously co-sponsored and voted for the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act and FIT21 in the House before moving to the Senate. The latter clarified jurisdiction over crypto, shifting it primarily from the SEC to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).In a June 2024 X post, Banks said that Trump “is the best choice for Bitcoin,” signaling a broader alignment between his crypto views and the MAGA political coalition.Banks received an A from Stand With Crypto.Kevin Cramer (R-ND)Source: US SenateSenator Cramer voted for GENIUS, SJ Resolution 3 and the earlier SAB 121 resolution, building a consistently pro-crypto voting record. He has vocally supported the CLARITY Act, and keeping America as a leader in the industry. He argued in a March 2026 Fox Business appearance that the US “cannot allow digital assets and digital industry to go overseas.”Cramer received an A from Stand With Crypto.Bernie Moreno (R-OH)Source: US SenateSenator Moreno is an outspoken crypto advocate, himself shifting into blockchain collectibles from a career in the automotive industry. He co-sponsored SJ Resolution 3 and voted for GENIUS.On the campaign trail, he repeatedly attacked his predecessor, Democrat Sherrod Brown, as an “extremist” on crypto regulation, and once declared that “our Founding Fathers would have been bitcoiners.”Since joining the Senate, Moreno has served on the Digital Assets Subcommittee and has been named by industry analysts as a likely early supporter of the CLARITY Act.Moreno received an A from Stand With Crypto.David H. McCormick (R-PA)Source: David McCormick Senator McCormick, the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, has voted for GENIUS and SJ Resolution 3, and has personally invested over $1 million in a spot Bitcoin ETF since taking office. In a 2024 op-ed, McCormick wrote that blockchain and crypto “offer America the chance to lead another generation of critical innovation” and warned that without regulatory clarity, the industry would develop and thrive elsewhere. He now sits on the Senate Banking Committee’s Digital Assets Subcommittee.McCormick received an A from Stand With Crypto.Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)Source: US SenateSenator Alsobrooks voted for GENIUS at every stage and has supported SJ Resolution 3. On CLARITY, she co-negotiated a compromise with Tillis on the question of stablecoin rewards, agreeing to the language that bars passive interest-like payments on stablecoins while preserving other forms of rewards. Her spokesperson has also signaled that bipartisan ethics provisions are a prerequisite for her final support. Industry analysts classify her as “constructive/pro-framework.” Alsobrooks received an A from Stand With Crypto.Ruben Gallego (D-AZ)Source: Ruben GallegoSenator Gallego is the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee’s Digital Assets Subcommittee. He voted for GENIUS at both cloture stages and on final passage, and voted for SJ Resolution 3 and the earlier FIT21 and SAB 121 measures in the House.Galaxy Digital classifies him as “constructive/pro-framework” on CLARITY. However, Gallego has also joined colleagues in pressing the DOJ and Treasury to investigate Binance over alleged Iran-linked fund flows.Gallego received an A from Stand With Crypto.OpponentsElizabeth Warren (D-MA)Source: US SenateSenator Warren is the Senate’s most prominent and prolific crypto skeptic, and has used her role as Ranking Member of the Banking Committee to lead Democratic opposition to major crypto legislation.She voted against both cloture attempts on GENIUS and against its final passage, and sponsored the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023, which Stand With Crypto classified as “very anti-crypto.”At a July 2025 committee hearing, Warren laid out priorities for any crypto market structure legislation, including closing anti-money laundering loopholes and barring public officials from profiting off crypto tokens.On the CLARITY Act, she has called the legislation a “corruption superhighway” and urged colleagues not to pass any crypto bill without addressing presidential conflicts of interest.Warren received an F from Stand With Crypto.Jack Reed (D-RI)Source: US SenateSenator Reed has been a consistent skeptic of pro-crypto legislation, voting against both cloture votes and the final GENIUS Act passage in June 2025. In a Senate floor statement, Reed called the bill “fundamentally flawed,” arguing it exposed taxpayers to crypto company bailouts and created venues for “criminals, terrorists, and rogue governments.” He has also led bipartisan anti-money laundering efforts targeting DeFi, cosponsoring the CANSEE Act with Republican senators including Mike Rounds. Reed received an F from Stand With Crypto.Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)Source: US SenateSenator Van Hollen voted against GENIUS and is expected to oppose the CLARITY Act as well. He also voted against SAB 121, SJ Resolution 3. He co-sponsored a bill, the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2023, that would make some crypto companies subject to the Bank Secrecy Act compliance regime.He has co-signed multiple anti-crypto letters with Warren, including a 2023 letter to the DOJ requesting an investigation into Binance.Van Hollen also co-sponsored the End Crypto Corruption Act, which would ban elected officials and their families from issuing or endorsing crypto assets. Van Hollen received an F from Stand With Crypto.Tina Smith (D-MN)Source: US SenateSenator Smith voted against GENIUS and is expected to oppose CLARITY. She has been a vocal critic of the legislation’s potential to enable presidential corruption, and in June 2025 posted that Republicans were “jamming through the GENIUS Act which will turbocharge Donald Trump’s crypto corruption.”Smith has also raised concerns about allowing crypto and private equity into 401(k) retirement accounts, joining Warren in opposing a Trump executive order to that effect. Smith received an F from Stand With Crypto.On the fenceCatherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)Source: US SenateSenator Cortez Masto has carved out a complicated position on crypto, supporting consumer protection and anti-money laundering measures while ultimately voting for the GENIUS Act. As a former Nevada attorney general, she has focused on closing loopholes exploited by drug cartels and terrorist organizations. She cosponsored Warren’s Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act and pushed to ensure the GENIUS Act included stronger foreign issuer oversight. After its passage, Cortez Masto said the law was “an important first step toward clarity and security” but added that “there is still more work to do to protect consumers and our national security.” Industry analysts at Galaxy Digital classify her as a “conditional dealmaker” on the CLARITY Act. Cortez Masto has received an A from Stand With Crypto.Mark Warner (D-VA)Source: US SenateSenator Warner has a more nuanced and at times industry-friendly approach than some of his Democratic colleagues. He voted for GENIUS at both cloture stages and on final passage, and voted for SJ Resolution 3, though he voted against the earlier SAB 121 resolution. Warner has pushed for tax compliance and sanctions enforcement in the crypto space, co-introducing the Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He also pushed back against overly broad regulations that would snare legitimate participants. He serves on the Digital Assets Subcommittee and is seen by analysts as a “conditional dealmaker” on the CLARITY Act.Warner has received an A from Stand With Crypto.Raphael Warnock (D-GA)Source: US SenateSenator Warnock has a more neutral voting record on crypto legislation, initially voting against cloture on GENIUS, then eventually voting to support it.“We’re already using these products. And so from a public policy point of view, one of the questions for me, is, what will leave the consumers in a better place? So we clearly need some kind of regulatory structure,” Warnock told NBC News.He also has been a strong proponent for ethics and conflicts of interest clauses in crypto regulations, co-sponsoring the End Crypto Corruption Act targeting.Industry analysts classify him as a “conditional dealmaker” on CLARITY. Warnock has received a C from Stand With Crypto.Andy Kim (D-NJ)Source: US SenateLike Warnock, Kim initially voted against cloture for GENIUS before eventually voting to pass it. He supported SJ Resolution 3 and also voted for FIT21.Senator Kim, who is the newest Democrat on the Banking Committee, is categorized by Galaxy Digital as a conditional dealmaker on CLARITY, as he is willing to support a framework but attentive to anti-money laundering and consumer protection controls.He cosponsored the End Crypto Corruption Act and joined colleagues in pressing the DOJ and Treasury to investigate Binance over alleged Iran-linked funds.Kim has received a C from Stand With Crypto.Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE)Source: US SenateAs a House member, Blunt Rochester voted for SAB 121 and supported several pro-crypto measures. But she voted against final passage of the GENIUS Act as a senator, making her the outlier among the Democrats who had supported its earlier procedural stages.Industry analysts at Galaxy Digital labeled her “mixed,” and she is seen as a potential swing vote on CLARITY depending on the strength of ethics and illicit finance provisions added to the bill. She cosponsored the End Crypto Corruption Act. Blunt Rochester has received a D from Stand With Crypto.

The AI and crypto industries have made headlines over the past year thanks to the impressive war chests amassed by corporate political action committees (PACs).Profligate spending during the last federal elections in the US has led to unprecedented policy changes favoring the crypto industry, with indications that a full legislative framework in the form of the CLARITY Act is on its way to becoming law. But this hasn’t endeared the crypto industry to voters. Recent polls from Politico show distrust of the crypto industry, and the electorate isn’t sold on the benefits of AI.“Voters across the ideological spectrum are raising concerns,” Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at Issue One, told Cointelegraph. “Some candidates on both sides of the aisle are trying to harness that frustration and outrage.”Voters don’t trust crypto and don’t believe AI benefits themAccording to the recent poll by Public First for Politico, most Americans don’t trust crypto and don’t believe in the benefits of AI. Source: PoliticoWhile Republican voters are somewhat more likely to trust crypto, 47% of Americans overall trust a traditional bank over a crypto platform, while 17% trust a crypto platform as much as a traditional bank. The numbers for AI aren’t great either. Some 43% of Americans overall believe that the risks outweigh the benefits, while 33% believe the inverse. Source: PoliticoRelated: Crypto PACs secure massive war chests ahead of US midtermsCurrently, most people haven’t heard about the major crypto and AI lobbies. According to Politico, only nine percent have heard of AI Super PAC Leading the Future. Only three percent have heard of pro-crypto PAC Fairshake. That’s not much compared to public awareness of large lobbies like the National Rifle Association or the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which are practically household names.Still, association with crypto could be a problem. Ohio Republican Representative Jim Renacci told Politico, “I do think if they see somebody is backed by crypto, that’s always going to be a problem, because, let’s face it, the people that I talk to in Ohio, they don’t understand crypto, and most say they’re not comfortable with [it].”Improving awareness around crypto lobbies may not help them much. Rick Claypool, research director at Public Citizen, told Cointelegraph:“Generally speaking, voters are against corporate money influencing politics.”“Even after Citizens United, the norm had been for big, brand-name corporations not to engage directly. Or when they did engage, they would often contribute through dark money groups that obscure their funding source.”In this regard, the crypto industry’s spending spree in 2024 was somewhat unusual. Major contributors like Coinbase or a16z weren’t shy about the millions of dollars they put into campaigns.But even then, “the voter-facing message from Fairshake was never about crypto, which voters never really cared about.” Mailers and ad buys reflected the supported candidates’ positions more broadly, or sometimes attacked those of the perceived anti-crypto candidate. Overall, “candidates who are seen as not beholden to corporate interests have an electoral edge,” said Claypool. This was true for populist candidates like US Senator Bernie Sanders and even US President Donald Trump, who claimed during his 2016 campaign that “he was so rich he could not be bought, which is laughable in hindsight.” If awareness about crypto — and crypto’s concerted efforts to influence policy — increases among the electorate, it may not shake out well. Issue One’s Beckel said, “If voters view an industry as toxic, that can have serious implications for candidates who don’t want to be perceived as too close to a controversial company or industry.”Grassroots organize against AI, crypto gets its day in WashingtonVoter dissatisfaction with a certain industry has translated into real action. Beckel noted a recent example when voter attitudes about the oil and fossil fuel lobby were enough to get some Democratic candidates to swear off any contributions. Beckel said that some organizations are already urging lawmakers to forswear any contributions from AI lobbies.Indeed, there has been a grassroots movement growing against the AI industry more directly, namely the construction of the highly expensive and resource-intensive data centers. Local movements in seven states have blocked or delayed over $64 billion in data center investment. One state, Maine, is poised to introduce a state-wide ban.Municipalities in California, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia have banned or delayed projects. Source: Data Center WatchAccording to Claypool, this could prove a great opportunity for Congressional candidates “to seize the grassroots momentum against data centers and Big Tech for Democrats in particular, but not exclusively, since the tech sector has so fully enmeshed itself with the Trump administration.”This increasing partisan alignment could also affect how voters perceive these industries. Jason Thielman, former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that the crypto industry has attempted to “maintain a degree of bipartisanship and identify people whom they think will be champions on these issues.”But even as the lobby claims to be bipartisan — Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called crypto “the most bipartisan issue” in DC — its priorities like deregulation and withdrawn enforcement lean mostly, but not exclusively, Republican, said Claypool.Claypool said that “crypto billionaires have tried to present themselves as scrappy underdogs against Wall Street.” “But that’s a less compelling argument now that crypto allies run, in addition to the White House, the DOJ, SEC, CFTC, the Treasury Dept., and the Commerce Dept.”Furthermore, the sector has become deeply tied to Trump himself after the president’s full embrace of the industry in 2024, as well as pardons for convicted crypto execs and his use of crypto for his own personal enrichment. With Trump’s popularity sliding due to geopolitical bungles, an unpredictable economic outlook and controversial policies at home, having ties to him and his party may carry political risk.In a Democratic Illinois Senate primary, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton accused her opponent Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of being backed by big money from “MAGA-backed crypto bros.” She won by seven points. It could also influence future policymaking. Said Beckel, “If an industry is viewed as a friend of one party and enemy of another, it may be more likely to be in the crosshairs or under the microscope when the other party is in power.”For crypto and AI, that moment may come as soon as Nov. 4.Magazine: XRP ‘probably going to $12,’ Bitcoin ETFs add $1B: Market Moves