Selkis has called his effort “Project Leonidas,” according to people familiar with the matter. Leonidas was the Spartan king whose stand at the Battle of Thermopylae during the Greco-Persian Wars was fictionalized in the movie 300.

In emails and personal pitches to industry executives, Selkis has said he is targeting raising between $100 million and $125 million for a political-action committee, an advocacy organization called the Digital Freedom Alliance that he would chair, and other pro-crypto projects and donations, the people said. He has pledged to raise $30 million himself. The campaign will be launched this summer, according to a spokesperson for the alliance.

A Messari spokeswoman declined to comment.

Fourteen years into its existence, the crypto industry is facing massive pressure from U.S. regulators cracking down on the industry with enforcement actions and tough guidance that industry officials say are making it difficult to operate in the country.

In January, bank regulators released guidance that crypto executives say has made it difficult for them to get basic banking services. The Securities and Exchange Commission in March warned Coinbase Global (ticker: COIN) that it will likely sue the firm for securities violations. Coinbase denies that it has violated securities laws. Some Democratic lawmakers have lambasted crypto firms, alleging that tokens are used chiefly for criminal activity or for tax avoidance.

Selkis has been at least somewhat open about his efforts. More than a year ago on Fox News, Selkis said he had formed the Digital Freedom Alliance, though it has remained largely dormant. On Twitter, Selkis said last month he would help spearhead a $100-million pro-crypto campaign. The documents sent to industry executives provided more detail, saying that funds would be used for pro-crypto legal defenses, nonprofits, and political donations.

The public relations component of the campaign will have no shortage of potential targets, but one of the most likely is SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The SEC under Gensler has accelerated a crackdown on crypto firms and indicated that more are on the way. Gensler has also repeatedly said he believes the vast majority of tokens, apart from Bitcoin , are securities, a stance that industry advocates say contrasts with comments Gensler made when he was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The amount of money Selkis says is needed for a campaign is large even by Washington standards. In 2022 the National Association of Realtors spent about $81.7 million to lobby Congress, making it the top spender that year, according to OpenSecrets.org. On the campaign finance front, in the 2022 election cycle Democratic and Republican House candidates together raised about $1.9 billion.

Write to Joe Light at [email protected]