Cryptocurrency companies accounted for nearly half of all corporate donations in the wake of the 2024 presidential election, prompting critics to denounce the industry’s growing influence, according to a report.
Crypto companies have donated more than $119 million in political donations, mostly to a bipartisan Super PAC focused on electing crypto-friendly candidates, according to a report released Wednesday by the nonprofit Public Citizen.
Coinbase, the largest crypto trading platform in the U.S., was the industry’s biggest donor, flooding PACs with $50.5 million, the report said.
Blockchain company Ripple came in a close second with a donation of $48 million, the report said.
The two crypto giants – both of which have been closely scrutinized by the SEC – contributed 80% of the industry’s total donations.
Crypto investors are hoping that pro-crypto candidates from across the political spectrum will win seats in the upcoming election and loosen the strict industry regulations enforced under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Even oil companies and banks – normally some of the biggest campaign donors – have been beaten by cryptocurrencies this year.
The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling allowed corporations to donate unlimited amounts of money to U.S. elections.
Rick Claypool, director of research at Public Citizen and author of the report, told CNBC that the flood of crypto donations used to “silence crypto critics and empower their supporters embodies everything that is wrong with the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Citizens United.”
15% of all disclosed contributions made since 2010 are in cryptocurrencies – even though Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was created only the year before.
More than 90% of all corporate crypto donations were made during this election cycle.
Most crypto donations went to Fairshake, a non-partisan pro-crypto super PAC focused on electing pro-crypto candidates across the spectrum.
Fairshake is one of the highest-spending PACs this year, the report says.
In addition to major contributions from Coinbase and Ripple, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz donated $47 million and Jump Crypto gave $15 million to the PAC.
Wealthy investors such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and the Winklevoss twins also donated millions of dollars to the crypto PAC, the report said.
Fairshake, together with its two affiliated PACs, has raised about $169 million – and more than 90 percent of the contributions came from large corporations, according to the report.
Fairshake paid out about $75 million in July and still has nearly $120 million to pay out before the November election, according to Federal Election Commission documents seen by CNBC.
The pro-crypto PAC has pledged $25 million to 18 House candidates, split evenly between nine Democrats and nine Republicans, the nonprofit report said.
The government has allocated $18 million for three Senate elections, the report said.
The pro-crypto PAC has won 36 of the 42 primaries it supported – without loudly announcing its focus on cryptocurrencies.
The candidates’ political ads sponsored by Fairshake did not mention crypto at all. Instead, the ads discuss typical political talking points – likely because crypto is not a top priority for the average voter.
“The only reason crypto is a hot topic this election cycle is because crypto companies are spending eye-watering amounts of money to make themselves impossible to ignore,” Claypool told CNBC.
Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are trying to present themselves as pro-crypto candidates in order to win over crypto bigwigs.
Trump changed his skeptical stance toward cryptocurrencies in 2019.
So far this year, Trump has launched a collection of non-fungible tokens on the Solana blockchain, became the first major presidential candidate to accept cryptocurrency donations, and headlined the Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Republican candidate said he had raised $25 million in crypto donations by the end of July.
Most recently, he promoted his family’s upcoming cryptocurrency platform called “The DeFiant Ones” in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
Crypto investors appear to have bet on Trump, as Bitcoin and crypto platform stocks rose following his assassination attempt – voters assumed this would increase his chances of winning the presidency.
Bitcoin stocks surged again after Trump spoke at the Bitcoin conference and promised to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y) said during a virtual town hall meeting called “Crypto4Harris” that a “sensible” crypto bill could be passed by the Senate by the end of the year.
And on Tuesday, Harris’ campaign team said she would support pro-crypto policies as president.
