Andrew Yang Turns to DAO in Web3 Lobbying Push

The former presidential candidate’s initiative seeks to fund an advocacy organization and teach lawmakers about blockchain technology

article-image

Andrew Yang | Source: Gage Skidmore/"Andrew Yang" (CC BY-SA 2.0)

share

key takeaways

  • Andrew Yang said Web3 technologies present “the most profound opportunity to fight poverty”
  • Membership in the Lobby3 DAO costs 0.07 ETH, while becoming an “advocate” in the community is priced at one ETH

Former presidential and NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang is aiming to launch a DAO to get lobbying dollars and the lawmakers they influence on board with Web3.

Yang announced the initiative, called Lobby3, in a Twitter post Thursday. After its lobbying infrastructure is built, a portion of the proceeds will fund a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). The minting of Lobby3 tokens is set for Feb. 28.

It is a blockchain-driven pivot from Humanity Forward, a nonprofit launched by Yang in 2020 focused on anti-poverty measures, including the child tax credit.

“But now I’ve realized that the most profound opportunity to fight poverty lies in Web3 technologies,” he said in the Twitter video. “Unfortunately our leaders in DC don’t really get these technologies — they’re a little bit nervous about them, so that’s what we have to change.”

Lobby3 token holders can participate in community votes, roundtable discussions with policy leaders and exclusive events.

Baseline DAO membership costs 0.07 ether, while becoming an “advocate” — with additional access to certain virtual and in-person events — is priced at one ETH.

Lobby3 intends to fund advocacy organizations in DC to form relationships with lawmakers and educate them on Web3. It’s also looking to recruit governors and mayors to run Web3 pilots to show how blockchain technology can boost financial inclusion and reduce poverty.

Yang previously told Blockworks that Web3 must become a vital source of money, media and votes.

“Let’s say that we were to do a cryptocurrency pilot in a Black neighborhood in Ohio, and then the Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, was to see that some of his constituents are able to access financial services in a way that they weren’t able to before,” Yang said. “Then, when he gets asked about the technology, he has a completely different perspective and outlook on it.”

Brown called crypto “a shady, diffuse network of online funny money” in July.

The launch of Lobby3 comes as spending on crypto lobbying grew to nearly $5 million in 2021, according to a Crypto Head analysis of OpenSecrets data — a 116% increase from 2020.

Coinbase, the Blockchain Association, Ripple Labs and Robinhood have each spent more than $1 million for crypto lobbying over the past five years, the report found.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

LTIPPanalysis.png

Research

This report is a retroactive analysis of Arbitrum's Long Term Incentives Pilot Program (LTIPP). We collect relevant data at a protocol level and review bi-weekly updates to analyze recipients, their strategies, and the impact of the incentives on high level growth metrics. In particular, we want to highlight outperformers and underperformers, and glean any best practices or lessons learned for protocols distributing ARB incentives in the future. The overarching goal is to synthesize lessons learned that the DAO can reference as it begins thinking about future incentives programs–namely, the working group for incentives that is being actively discussed–especially as Timeboost introduces new conditions for trading and economic activity.

article-image

OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022, claiming the mixer had been used to launder more than $7 billion in crypto

article-image

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge showed that prices increased 0.2% from September and 2.3% annually

article-image

While acknowledging potential headwinds for risk assets, Galaxy’s Alex Thorn notes there are also plenty of catalysts

article-image

BuilderNet is a new block building network designed to return more MEV and gas fees to users

article-image

Ledn’s John Glover gives some price targets to watch for bitcoin

article-image

Sponsored

AI project Zerebro intersects the spheres of artificial intelligence, finance, art, music, and culture