A group called Crypto Watchdog is running TV and social media ads across Washington, DC, linking crypto to terrorists and drug cartels as the Senate enters its final week on the Clarity Act. Executive Director Chapin Fay says the campaign aims to bring transparency to the industry, but he won't name who is funding it.
According to CoinDesk, ads across the Washington, DC, area warn that drug cartels and terrorists use crypto: "The worst people operating in the darkest places use crypto because there are no guardrails." The campaign is timed to the Senate's final week of work on the Clarity Act before its summer recess. Crypto Watchdog, the group behind it, won't name who funds it.
Ads link crypto to cartels and terrorism
Crypto Watchdog is run by Executive Director Chapin Fay, a media strategist previously involved in Republican political campaigns who hadn't worked on crypto matters before. Fay told CoinDesk his goal is to bring transparency to an over-$2 trillion industry that has historically lacked it, while maintaining his group isn't opposed to crypto itself.
Funding stays secret
Yet when Fay was asked who pays for the campaign, he declined to answer, rejecting the idea that his own backers should be as transparent as the industry he criticizes. CoinDesk compared the effort to the pro-crypto Cedar Innovation Foundation, another dark-money group that also withholds its funding sources.
A survey Crypto Watchdog commissioned suggested that 65% of 1,000 voters held a high level of distrust toward crypto. The group says that figure echoes an earlier CoinDesk poll in which 60% of respondents viewed crypto as a mostly negative force in the economy.
Clarity Act nears its final Senate test
Meanwhile, the Senate has entered its last week before summer recess, with lawmakers scheduled to finish work on the Clarity Act by Friday or pick it up again in September. Most contentious provisions are settled, but a proposed ethics limit on senior officials' crypto activity — a point tied to President Trump — remains open, with a bipartisan compromise now awaiting a White House response.
The banking lobby remains one of the bill's most vehement opponents, warning that stablecoin reward programs resembling interest payments could threaten U.S. banking deposits if crypto platforms gain more room to operate.
Source: CoinDesk
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