Major Ethereum stakeholders have come together to form the Ethereum Protocol Advocacy Alliance (EPAA), a coalition aimed at coordinating policy initiatives and educating lawmakers about the Ethereum ecosystem.
Announced on Tuesday, the EPAA highlighted its mission to address what it sees as the disproportionate influence of centralized crypto entities in shaping policy.
“This imbalance has often left the principles and technologies behind on-chain infrastructure misunderstood or overlooked,” the alliance stated.
The EPAA brings together leading names in decentralized finance, including Aave Labs, Aragon, Curve, Lido Labs Foundation, Spark Foundation, The Graph Foundation, and Uniswap Foundation.
“Together, we secure over $100 billion in assets through open, non-custodial protocols that operate without intermediaries. Drawing on our pragmatic and technical experience, we will advocate for onchain solutions to regulatory challenges.”
The Ethereum Foundation has also endorsed the initiative, with co-executive director Tomasz K. Stańczak emphasizing the foundation’s support for “community-led coordination on advocacy.”
Balancing lobbying efforts
During the previous U.S. election cycle, the crypto industry saw the creation of one of its largest Political Action Committees, Fairshake, founded by venture capital firm a16z, crypto exchange Coinbase, and Ripple, the creators of the XRP ledger. The PAC raised $260 million for lobbying and spent $195.8 million, according to OpenSecrets.
Given the high-profile participants in the EPAA, the alliance is expected to have the resources needed to influence policy and advance its advocacy goals.
The EPAA has identified four main approaches to engage with policymakers: providing technical expertise, creating practical resources to explain complex technical topics, coordinating strategic outreach to amplify messaging, and pinpointing areas of shared technical interest.
Ethereum continues to expand
The Ethereum ecosystem has recently launched several initiatives aimed at improving communication, branding, coordination, development, and onboarding.
Earlier this month, the Ethereum Foundation revamped its grants program, adopting a more selective approach compared to its previous open application model. At the end of October, the foundation also introduced institutions.ethereum.org, designed to facilitate smoother onboarding of institutional participants into the Ethereum ecosystem.
