Over $238 million in crypto donations were recorded, outpacing traditional industries like oil and pharmaceuticals.
Changes in the characteristics of the cryptocurrency sector brought it to the forefront of the global financial industry as a result of the elections that took place in the United States in 2024.
Crypto Donations made during this presidential election have exceeded $238 million, surpassing the amount contributed by established industries such as oil and pharmaceuticals.
Crypto Donations Exceed $238 Million This US Election
We anticipate that this phenomenon will make the lawmakers in Washington more receptive to the digital asset business. Records submitted to the Federal Election Commission reveal that individuals and superPACs have distributed a total of $238 million in crypto donations.
This has surpassed the contributions made by established businesses such as the pharmaceutical and energy industries. It is worth noting that the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the blockchain payments company Ripple, and the venture capital behemoth Andreessen Horowitz are among the most significant spenders in the cryptocurrency market.
With their combined contributions, these three individuals contributed more than 160 million dollars to various pro-crypto superPACs that supported pro-crypto candidates in the campaign for congressional seats, such as John Dean.
The analytics platform Breadcrumbs, in collaboration with FOX Business, conducted this study to investigate the excessive amount of cryptocurrency donations. James Delmore, a research analyst at Breadcrumbs, commented on the new revelation by saying that out of the total donation of $238 million, $181 million came from donations made to superPACs.
“The crypto industry is sending a clear message to American politicians and elected officials with these donations: Current cryptocurrency regulations and policies are not working in the U.S.”
Individual contributions from prominent figures in the sector, such as Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, the Winklevoss twins, creators of Gemini crypto exchange, and Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, founding partners of Andreesen Horowitz, accounted for the remaining $57 million.
Donations made in cryptocurrency have been beneficial to both the campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris throughout this election in the United States. Trump alone has been able to collect more than fifty percent of the total donations.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports that Trump and Harris have amassed a total of $34 million in donations between them. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has received more than $22 million in donations from 17 major donors.
On the other side, Kamala Harris amassed a total of twelve million dollars, with Chris Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple, contributing ninety-nine percent of that total sum. Other candidates that support cryptocurrency have also been putting up a strong fight in recent times.
In the race for the Senate seat in Ohio, the odds are extremely slim. There is only a one percent gap between the incumbent Democratic senator Sherrod Brown and the Republican candidate Bernie Moreno.
During the course of this election campaign, Moreno made a concerted effort to communicate with crypto enthusiasts while also receiving more than forty million dollars from a superPAC that supports cryptocurrency.
A crypto electorate could truly determine a winner or a loser, which raises the question of whether or not this is even possible. Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of Coinbase, made a statement regarding this matter. He stated that this scenario is a true representation of the strong emergence of crypto voters.
Opposition to Crypto’s Growing Clout
On the other hand, the huge investment has also prompted intense criticism from onlookers, who see these large contributions as an attempt by the business to influence policy in its favor. Rick Claypool, the research director of Public Citizen, an organization that advocates for consumers, made the following statement while speaking on Fox Business:
“The millions crypto corporations and executives are spending is a brazen attempt by a relatively small sector to distort U.S. democracy to serve its profit-maximizing whims. By spending so much, the crypto sector has made its demands for light touch regulation and minimal enforcement impossible to ignore.”
