Top asset manager Grayscale Investments has donated $1 million to crypto-based think tank Coin Center. Grayscale also plans to match subsequent pledges from donors up to an additional $1 million, per an official announcement. The donate and match campaign is set to run through the end of February 2021. Grayscale’s CEO Michael Sonnenshein explains,

“While it is the responsibility of blockchain and digital currency firms to support good policy-making in DC to drive this industry forward, it is in the interest of all users, developers, investors, and other market participants that regulators are properly informed about developments in this space.”

Grayscale’s donation takes a cue from Kraken that raised over $3 million for the cryptocurrency advocacy group in 2018. Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, in a statement,

“We’re grateful and humbled by this generous commitment from Grayscale and the ongoing commitment by so many other individuals and firms who support us.”

Coin Center is a Washington-based think tank created to advance public policy that benefits the blockchain space.

The advocacy group is known for fighting for Bitcoin’s cause. In 2017, Brito testified before members of the Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, explaining in simple details how Bitcoin works.

At the hearing, the Coin Center chief advocated for a deep understanding of the technology before slamming restrictive regulations on it.

Last month, Coin Center formed part of the opposition against the Treasury Department’s move against self-hosted wallets. Coin Center published an expert take from C Labs executive Jai Ramaswamy, who argued against restricting self-hosted wallets to detect and disrupt illicit financial activity in support of noncustodial wallets.

Grayscale’s donation comes amidst a change of guard as a new administration settles into Washington. With the new faces at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) helms and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) comes new ideas and possibly new regulations. However, there are speculations that the Biden administration is tapping technocrats with experience with blockchain technology.

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