Ripple expands D.C. office to shape U.S. crypto policy amid CLARITY Act push

Ripple's Washington expansion comes as the crypto industry mounts its most coordinated lobbying campaign yet for federal market structure legislation.

Ripple Labs deepened its Washington D.C. presence Tuesday, expanding its government affairs office to increase influence over U.S. digital asset regulatory policy as Congress weighs the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the industry's best chance at federal market structure rules before the August recess.

The expansion adds policy and legal staff focused on engaging lawmakers and regulators, according to a person familiar with the move. Ripple's office will work alongside the Digital Chamber, the Blockchain Association and the Crypto Council for Innovation — three trade groups that have coordinated a lobbying campaign encompassing more than 100 crypto firms.

"Regulatory clarity is the single biggest barrier to blockchain adoption in the United States, and that clarity must come from Congress, not enforcement actions," Lauren Belive, Ripple's head of U.S. policy, said in a statement. "We are investing in Washington because the next 12 months will determine whether the U.S. leads or falls behind in digital asset innovation."

The CLARITY Act, numbered H.R. 3633, passed the House in July 2025 by a 294-134 margin and cleared the Senate Banking Committee on a 15-9 bipartisan vote on May 14. The bill would divide digital asset oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by introducing a statutory definition of "digital commodities" and a "mature blockchain" test. Senator Cynthia Lummis has indicated a floor vote could come by August, though the bill requires 60 votes to overcome the Senate's filibuster threshold.

The timing of Ripple's expansion coincides with a broader industry push for legislative progress. The Digital Chamber's CEO Cody Carbone has said the ethics provisions tied to the Trump family's crypto involvement, flagged by Senator Elizabeth Warren as unresolved, will be completed before Senate leadership schedules a floor vote. "Senate leadership will only bring it to the floor if they feel confident they've got 60," Carbone said.

Ripple has been one of the most aggressive spenders on crypto lobbying. The company spent $1.1 million on federal lobbying in 2025, according to disclosure records, and has been a lead plaintiff in legal challenges to SEC enforcement actions. Its XRP token was at the center of a years-long SEC lawsuit that concluded in 2024 with a ruling that programmatic sales of XRP on exchanges did not constitute securities transactions — a partial victory that left the token's regulatory status in a gray area the CLARITY Act would resolve.

The expansion also comes as the Trump administration pursues a dual-track approach to digital assets: advancing market structure legislation while simultaneously escalating enforcement against crypto platforms linked to sanctioned entities. On Tuesday, the Treasury Department sanctioned Iran's largest digital asset exchange, Nobitex, accusing it of processing more than 50% of Iranian digital asset income and supporting sanctions evasion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. has seized about $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets.

The contrast underscores the stakes for Ripple and the broader industry. If the CLARITY Act passes, it would replace the current enforcement-driven regulatory environment — in which the SEC applies the Howey test on a case-by-case basis without binding safe-harbor rules — with a statutory architecture that asset managers, payment processors and fintech firms could rely upon for capital deployment decisions. If it stalls, the industry faces continued regulatory fragmentation across federal agencies and state-level regimes.

Coinbase, Kraken, Circle, Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm are among the coalition members backing the bill. Stand With Crypto, the industry's grassroots advocacy arm, has issued a parallel constituent call-to-action urging voters to pressure their senators.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.