Congress quietly opens a private fintech lobby channel inside the SEC
H.R. 3690 — Securing Innovation in Financial Regulation Act · Filed by Frank Lucas (R-OK) · Introduced Jun 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates two new regulatory committees—FinHub at the SEC and LabCFTC at the CFTC—to engage with financial technology companies, provide them information about regulatory rules, and facilitate dialogue between regulators and fintech innovators. Both committees will issue annual reports on their engagement activities, though reports will exclude confidential business information.
Why we flagged it
The bill's functional purpose is to establish formal, institutionalized channels for financial technology companies to engage with and influence SEC and CFTC rulemaking, framed as 'innovation support' but operationally a regulatory-capture mechanism.
What the text implies
- Confidentiality provisions shield fintech company concerns and regulatory feedback from public scrutiny, creating a private regulatory dialogue invisible to Congress and citizens.
- Annual reports exclude 'confidential information,' meaning the public cannot see what specific regulatory requests or complaints fintech firms raised, undermining democratic accountability.
- LabCFTC's duty to 'encourage persons working in emerging technology fields to engage with the Commission' reverses the normal regulatory posture—regulators typically respond to public input, not actively recruit industry feedback.
- The committees' composition is entirely at the discretion of the SEC and CFTC leadership, with no requirement for public interest representation, consumer advocates, or transparency in member selection.
- By codifying LabCFTC (which already exists informally), the bill grants it statutory authority and resources, institutionalizing what was previously a discretionary engagement—making it harder to wind down or reform.
Who it affects
The bill may improve regulatory transparency and responsiveness to emerging technologies, potentially benefiting consumers through better-designed rules. However, it creates formal channels for financial firms to lobby regulators in private, with confidential information shielded from public view, potentially tilting rulemaking toward industry preferences over consumer protection.
Who stands to gain
- large financial technology companies
- cryptocurrency and blockchain firms
- fintech startups seeking regulatory clarity
- major banks (JPMorgan, Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, BNY Mellon) expanding fintech operat
Named in the bill
SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), FinHub, LabCFTC, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Commodity Exchange Act, House Committee on Agriculture, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Capital One (COF), Citigroup (C) — and 2 more
Where it stands
- Jun 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture and House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $110,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Frank Lucas, the sponsor, reported $719,880 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Enterprise Products Partners Lp (formerly Known As Enterprise Products Company O — $80,000 on 1 filing
- Nova Labs, Inc. — $30,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 23, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 23, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress quietly opens a private fintech lobby channel inside the SEC” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr3690 Report an error
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