Are Major Crypto Firms Trying to Sway the Vote? Public Citizen Unveils 3000% Surge In Election Spending
Crypto Corporations political donations surge 3000% in 2024 Credit: Mario Tama on Getty Images
Key Takeaways
- Political donations from crypto corporations have surged over 3000% in 2024,
- Crypto corporations became the biggest political donors this election season.
- Coinbase and Ripple are the largest crypto-corporate spenders during this presidential election.
The United States Presidential election 2024 has become a hotbed for crypto groups and lobbyists to support candidates they believe would best serve the interest of the crypto in the next four years.
According to data from Public Citizen, in 2024, crypto companies led corporate political donations, accounting for 48% of the $248 million donated to political candidates.
Coinbase And Ripple Leads Crypto Corporate Donations
Crypto companies invested over $119 million in the 2024 federal elections.
Many of these donations were made to a nonpartisan super political action committee (PAC) to elect pro-crypto candidates and defeat those skeptical of the industry.
The top crypto companies in the U.S., Coinbase and Ripple, are spearheading the crypto effort.
They have contributed a combined $119 million to these political donations. Coinbase has contributed a little over $50 million, while Ripple has contributed $49 million.
Coinbase and Ripple’s heavy political donations could be linked to their past experiences with the security regulator.
Both these crypto firms have been at the receiving end of multiple lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Despite winning most of the court battles against the Securities regulators, Coinbase and Ripple have called for regulatory clarity and questioned the SEC’s jurisdiction over the crypto ecosystem.
In addition to Coinbase and Ripple, Jump Crypto has donated $15 million, while Andreessen Horowitz donated $1.75 million. Circle and Paradigm have also donated one million each to crypto lobbying efforts.
How Political Donations Work?
A 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling states that businesses are free to spend as much money as they like to support the lawmaker of their choice. However, corporate political expenditure is subject to some restrictions.
Corporations are not allowed to fund campaigns directly.
However, they can make unlimited contributions to super PACs and other outside organizations if they don’t work directly with the candidate’s official campaign operations.
This is the key reason behind the massive popularity of crypto-focused Fairshake PAC , a super PAC with $202.9 million in fundraising.
Most of Fairshake’s funding, $107.9 million or 53%, came from companies that will benefit from the PAC’s initiatives, primarily Coinbase and Ripple.
The remainder of the PAC’s funding is primarily provided by wealthy venture capitalists and cryptocurrency executives. These individuals include the Winklevoss twins ($5 million) and Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase ($1 million).
Crypto Donations Surged Over 3000% in 2024
Over the past four years, political crypto donations have gradually surged each year, indicating their lobbying efforts are working.
In 2020, crypto political contributions were a mere $5.2 million, but in 2022, they dropped to just over $4 million. However, in 2024, that number jumped to $120 million, a 3000% jump.
A look at the flow of crypto donations indicates both Republican and Democratic parties received nearly a similar amount of backing from the crypto community.
Half the corporate contributions to Republican-backing groups ($69 million) went to just three groups.
On the other hand, about a third of corporate contributions toward Democrat-backing groups went to two groups dedicated to electing Democrats to the Senate and House,
Cryptocurrency is a nascent industry lacking clear regulatory guidelines.
This creates hurdles for businesses to operate and gives regulators a free hand. Both Coinbase and Ripple have faced this firsthand, and thus, they are the most prominent crypto corporate spenders.
Biden Turns to Coinbase for Crypto Donations as Trump Rallies Bitcoin Supporters
