The chief executive of top US-based digital asset exchange Coinbase says that crypto lobbying needs to be bolstered before the upcoming 2024 election.

In a new interview with Ryan Selkis, the founder of market intelligence firm Messari, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says crypto firms based in the US are facing an “unfair” regulatory environment.

According to Armstrong, certain members of the government are making it difficult for the crypto industry to thrive.

“It turns out this year, we’ve had to turn our attention of course to the policy side as many of you had as well. It’s a really unfair environment that we are in right now where every startup in the space is just getting hit with a subpoena [or] a Wells notice.

There’s a really concerted, focused effort right now to try and curtail and kill this industry. Specifically, I think the two actors I’ve seen that are most responsible for that are probably the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) Chair Gary Gensler and [Senator] Elizabeth Warren.”

Armstrong says that the views of Gensler and Warren are not necessarily shared by other members of the government. The Coinbase CEO also says that the industry needs to step up its lobbying efforts before the 2024 elections if it wants to see meaningful change in the regulatory environment.

“[Their views] do not represent the point of view of the rest of the US government that I interact with… 

The members of Congress are very thoughtful on this. They’re very reasonable. They recognize this industry has a lot of innovation potential, and they want to protect consumers with reasonable regulation.

So we need to make sure that the SEC does not get weaponized for the political agenda of a couple of rogue actors. To do that, the crypto industry is going to have to get a little bit more sophisticated and powerful in terms of our lobbying efforts.”

Earlier this month, Coinbase launched a 14-month initiative called “Stand With Crypto,” which asks digital asset owners to contact their representatives and advocate for pro-crypto laws.

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