Major U.S. crypto lobby expands with U.K. partnership
The Digital Chamber, one of the more visible crypto lobbying groups in Washington, has brought CryptoUK under its umbrella as an affiliate. This comes at a time when the advocacy landscape seems to be shifting quite a bit. Leaders have been changing roles, and new groups keep popping up with serious funding behind them.
But here’s an interesting thing: while everyone’s talking about new groups forming, actual mergers or formal partnerships like this one seem less common. The Digital Chamber, which mostly focuses on the busy U.S. policy scene, now has this formal agreement with the U.K. organization to basically work together more closely.
What the partnership means
Su Carpenter, who runs CryptoUK, said their group has always tried to focus on policy issues, member collaboration, and regulatory engagement. Those are their main pillars, I guess you could say. And in The Digital Chamber, they see an organization that thinks similarly and has the same basic goals.
Carpenter thinks this arrangement will make both organizations stronger by allowing them to share knowledge across borders and access more resources. That makes sense, right? Different countries have different regulatory approaches, and learning from each other could be valuable.
Cody Carbone, the CEO of Digital Chamber, put it this way: effective digital asset policy needs coordination that doesn’t stop at borders. You have to look for opportunities in all governments and markets.
The changing advocacy landscape
This move happens against a backdrop of significant change in crypto lobbying. U.S. crypto lobbyists have seen a lot of leadership turnover this year, just as domestic policy efforts reached something of a critical point. Meanwhile, the industry has spawned several new advocacy groups.
There’s the Solana Policy Institute, the Ripple-backed National Cryptocurrency Association, and most recently, the American Innovation Project. The list keeps growing, even as Congress and federal regulators try to write new laws and rules for the industry.
It’s worth noting that mergers or absorptions like this aren’t happening every day. About a year ago, the Crypto Council for Innovation absorbed the Proof of Stake Alliance. At around the same time, they also struck partnerships with the Cryptoasset Business Association in Japan and Global Digital Finance in the U.K.
Why this matters now
What strikes me is the timing. With so many new groups forming, you might wonder if there’s too much fragmentation. Having organizations work together across borders could help create more consistent messaging and approaches to regulation.
The Digital Chamber already has other groups in its orbit, like the Digital Power Network and the Bitcoin Treasury Council. Adding CryptoUK expands their reach into the U.K. market, which has its own regulatory developments happening.
I think this kind of cross-border cooperation could become more important as digital assets continue to operate globally while facing different regulatory approaches in different countries. Sharing knowledge about what works and what doesn’t in various jurisdictions could help shape better policies overall.
But we’ll have to see how this plays out in practice. Formal agreements are one thing; actual effective collaboration is another. Still, it’s an interesting development in an advocacy space that’s clearly evolving rapidly.
