The group has launched ads linking crypto to crime as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act nears a pivotal Senate phase, while its executive director declines to identify the campaign's funders.
Crypto Watchdog has begun a Washington advertising push tying crypto to terrorists, drug cartels and scams targeting seniors as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act approaches a critical stage in the U.S. Senate. Executive Director Chapin Fay said the group's aim is to bring "sunlight and transparency" to an industry he described as an over-$2 trillion market that has "historically not been very transparent," and to ensure policymakers and the public understand the risks as debate over the Clarity Act and other regulatory approaches intensifies. The campaign has run across television and social media, while the group cites a June survey of 1,000 voters showing 65% viewed crypto with a "high level of distrust," echoing a CoinDesk survey earlier this year in which 60% of respondents said crypto was a mostly negative force in the economy. Even as it argues for greater transparency in the sector, Crypto Watchdog is not disclosing its own financial backers, with Fay saying he would not speak for the funders and describing disclosure of the group's supporters as "apples and oranges" compared with crypto transparency.