Blockchain Association
Blockchain industry policy advocacy group
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About Blockchain Association
The Blockchain Association is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit membership organization representing over 130 companies across the digital asset ecosystem, including software developers, infrastructure providers, exchanges, custodians, and investors. Its core business revolves around three pillars: policy development (crafting legislative and regulatory proposals informed by member consensus), legal engagement (filing amicus briefs and affirmative litigation to defend industry interests), and education (translating complex blockchain technologies into clear insights for policymakers).
The Association's core value proposition is serving as the industry's unified, credible voice in Washington. It convenes diverse stakeholders to forge consensus on complex issues, then translates that shared vision into effective advocacy. Its competitive edge lies in deep technical expertise combined with established relationships across Congress, the Administration, and regulatory agencies like the SEC, CFTC, and FinCEN.
The primary market pain point it addresses is regulatory fragmentation and uncertainty. Digital assets do not fit neatly into existing legal frameworks, and inconsistent oversight between agencies has slowed U.S. innovation and global competitiveness. The Association advocates for clear token classifications (securities vs. commodities), consistent SEC-CFTC jurisdictional boundaries, protection for open-source developers from liability, and preventing non-custodial software from being misclassified as financial intermediaries.
In the past six months (March-September 2026), the Association has been actively engaged in implementing the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law passed in 2025. In August 2026, it submitted formal comments to Treasury's FinCEN, OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC, and NCUA urging regulators to limit customer identification (KYC) obligations to primary market activities where issuers have direct contractual relationships with customers, arguing that extending these requirements to peer-to-peer transactions would exceed the statute's scope and be technically infeasible. The Association also urged alignment of effective dates across related AML rules to avoid duplicative compliance costs. Additionally, it publicly countered misconceptions about the CLARITY Act ahead of a Senate vote, defending the bill against claims that it would weaken anti-money laundering enforcement.
In September 2018, the Blockchain Association was founded in Washington, D.C., as a non-profit industry organization dedicated to achieving regulatory clarity for the blockchain and crypto asset industry, while advocating for policies that protect consumer privacy and support innovation.
In 2026, the association submitted a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opposing Citadel's proposals to strengthen DeFi regulation. It argued that DeFi protocol developers should not be classified as brokers or exchange operators, nor subjected to a regulatory framework designed for traditional financial intermediaries. It also urged the SEC to advance an “innovation exemption” mechanism to provide a regulatory sandbox for on-chain assets and tokenized securities. This stance reflects its sustained long-term influence in digital asset policy advocacy.
In the past six months, the Blockchain Association has advanced U.S. crypto policy: it submitted a comment on the SEC’s Regulation NMS proposal (Aug 18, 2026) and a joint SEC-CFTC comment letter (Aug 25, 2026), while welcoming the Senate Banking Committee’s bipartisan markup of the Clarity Act (May 14, 2026). Looking ahead, its official priorities include pushing for clear legislation on digital asset market structure and leading tokenization policy: in March 2026 it launched a Tokenization Workstream focused on tokenized securities and on-chain market infrastructure, aiming to keep U.S. capital markets competitive and ensure innovation stays onshore. | | |
Blockchain Association's recent team changes are as follows:
Senior Director of Government Relations Jessica Martinez departed in April 2026. She joined the organization in May 2025.