Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it donated $25 million to the action committee
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it has donated $25 million to cryptocurrency-focused super PAC Fairshake as it steps up its lobbying ahead of the US elections in November.
In a June 3 blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the latest donation brings the total amount raised by the political action committee and its affiliates to $160 million this election cycle. The amount matches last week’s donations from Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
“Crypto voters won’t be taken seriously until we send a clear message to political candidates that it’s wrong to be anti-crypto,” Armstrong wrote. “We must support pro-crypto candidates on both sides of the aisle and informally vote against anti-crypto candidates.”
Armstrong said that while Coinbase is willing to talk to critics, “we no longer need their support” and “will work to get anti-crypto candidates to resign.”
With $160 million in funding, Fairshake is one of the most profitable political action committees in the country, according to an OpenSecrets analysis. It cannot give money directly to political candidates, but it can spend an unlimited amount to support them in other ways.
OpenSecrets data shows that Fairshake’s largest spending this cycle is $10 million on lobbying against Democrats, a quarter of the $40 million spent this cycle.
Earlier this year, it funded offensive ads against California Rep. Katie Porter, who lost her Senate primary race in March.
about: FIT21 bill seen as ‘watershed moment’ for cryptocurrencies despite friction between CFTC and SEC
Coinbase’s donation comes ahead of the November 5 US elections, in which the presidency, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate are up for grabs.
The House of Representatives has a Republican majority, while Democrats control the Senate, but a May Public Citizen report said the cryptocurrency sector’s “enormous influence” in key races “has the potential to tip control of Congress in favor of one party or another. another.”
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump remains in the lead despite his several recent felony convictions. He leads incumbent President Joe Biden by one percentage point, according to June 3 FiveThirtyEight polls.
review: Cryptocurrencies reveal surprising divide among Democrats months before election
