Chamber of Digital Commerce Gives Bitcoin Fresh Lobbying Voice What's this? SPONSORED CONTENT FROM X What's This? Associations Now Brand Connection provides opportunities for advertisers to connect with the Associations Now audience. All content is paid for by the advertiser. The Associations Now editorial staff is not involved in creating this content. By Ernie Smith / Jul 22, 2014 (iStock Editorial/Thinkstock) (iStock Editorial/Thinkstock)

Complete with clever name, a new group in the crypto-currency industry hopes to help push “smart regulation” of Bitcoin in Washington. It isn’t the only player in the game, though.

Watch out, U.S. Chamber of Commerce—you now have a Bitcoin-savvy namesake.

Last week, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a lobbying group for the crypto-currency industry, launched in Chicago with the goal of giving the Bitcoin movement a consistent voice in Washington.

The new group’s president, Perianne Boring, is a former congressional staffer, beauty pageant contestant (really), and “Russia Today” host (also really). As a blogger for Forbes on digital currency issues, she became a noted voice in support of Bitcoin.

I believe that the legislation that comes out of Washington will be echoed around the world.

Speaking at the North American Bitcoin Conference (NABC) last week, Boring underlined the role the Chamber of Digital Commerce could have in building the currency’s international presence by boosting its lobbying game. She said the organization would create two boards focused on crafting “smart regulation for the industry.”

“I believe that the legislation that comes out of Washington will be echoed around the world,” she said, according to CoinDesk.

What About the Bitcoin Foundation?

While the new group brings a new voice to the table, it also raises an obvious question for observers: What does this mean for the trade group that’s already around?

"We're not related to the Bitcoin Foundation," @PerianneDC says of her new lobbying group, the Chamber of Digital Commerce #bitcoinchicago — CoinDesk (@coindesk) July 19, 2014

Simple answer: It’s not a competition. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, Boring had suggested launching the Chamber of Digital Commerce as a subsidiary of the Bitcoin Foundation, only to be rebuffed but encouraged to build it herself. (Both groups are classified as 501(c)(6) nonprofits.)

The foundation, meanwhile, has not strictly focused on lobbying in the past, though it is now working with an outside firm, Thorsen French Advocacy.

Considering the difficult press the foundation has faced this year, industry sites such as CoinTelegraph argue that it may have been best for the new group to start fresh.

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