Crypto companies, executives and investors have gathered more than any other industry to influence the 2024 election. Crypto now trails only the fossil fuel industry in political spending since 2010.
According to watchdog group Public Citizen, the crypto industry will spend an “unprecedented” amount of money in 2024 trying to influence US congressional elections.
Crypto companies, executives and investors were the “dominant political spenders” this year, giving $119 million this election cycle, according to the nonprofit's analysis. They spent $129 million over the past three election cycles.
According to Public Citizen, crypto has been placed behind the fossil fuel industry in terms of corporate spending since 2010, when the Supreme Court ruled that companies could spend unlimited amounts of money on elections as long as it went to independent groups supporting candidates or causes. , apart from candidates.
This is the latest sign that crypto has become a force in the 2024 elections.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared at a bitcoin conference last month, where he told a cheering crowd that “the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry” if he wins in November.
Meanwhile, crypto proponents are closely monitoring Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, looking for signs of a policy “reset” after she floundered under aggressive regulators appointed by incumbent President Joe Biden.
The first signs of that reset came Wednesday, when Bloomberg Harris adviser Brian Nelson reported — viewed skeptically by some in the industry — that Harris “supports emerging technologies and policies that continue to grow the industry.”
Public Citizen, which is suing Coinbase and Fairshake for allegedly violating federal election laws, attacked the crypto industry's spending in its report.
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“This tsunami of corporate crypto cash is a brazen and unprecedented attempt by for-profit businesses to force their private, moneyed interests ahead of the public good,” it said.
Coinbase and Fairshake did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'Big Crypto'
According to Public Citizen, nearly half of the $248 million in “corporate money” spent on elections this year came from the crypto industry.
Since the 2010 Supreme Court decision, also known as Citizens United, 15% of all corporate donations have come from crypto.
Most of that — about $114 million — went to Fairshake, a super PAC for every public citizen. And most of the money donated to Fairshake came from two companies, Coinbase and Ripple.
“Big Crypto's Big Spending Strategy Looks Like It's Paying Off,” Public Citizen said. Of the 42 primary campaigns it donated to, pro-crypto-backed super PACs won 36 times.
It attributes the industry's deep pockets to Trump's courtship, Harris' outrage and New York Senator Chuck Schumer's recent appearance at a pro-crypto town hall.
“Frankly, crypto has not invented a corporate political influence tactic that rewards candidates who agree to do the industry's bidding while threatening those who resist corporate power,” Public Citizen said.
“But no industry before has wholeheartedly accepted a direct raise from corporations and used that political war chest as a public threat (or reward) to discipline lawmakers to adopt the industry's preferred policies.”
The group's analysis was limited to super PACs and hybrid PACs, which must disclose contributors to the Federal Elections Commission.
So-called dark money groups, which don't have to disclose their supporters, are funding ads against crypto-skeptics Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown, according to Public Citizen.
Alex Gilbert News' is a New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can contact him [email protected].
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