The crypto industry has spent more than $119 million on the 2024 federal elections to boost crypto-friendly candidates and defeat crypto skeptics, a research firm said. A new report from Public Citizen.
This “unprecedented” spending accounts for nearly half, or 48 percent, of all money given by corporations to this year’s elections, according to a report by the progressive consumer rights watchdog.
“The fact that crypto companies like Coinbase and Ripple can spend over $100 million to silence crypto critics and favor its supporters embodies everything that was wrong with the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision,” Rick Claypool, Public Citizen’s director of research and author of the report, said in a statement.
“Corporations don’t get to vote,” he continued, “but the only reason crypto is even a hot topic in this election is because crypto companies are spending incredible amounts of money to make themselves impossible to ignore.”
In its controversial decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot restrict campaign contributions by corporations or outside groups.
The report found that cryptocurrency companies have spent a combined $129 million over the past three election cycles, which represents 15% of the total known corporate contributions since the 2010 Citizens United ruling.
According to Public Citizen’s research, the only industry that outspent cryptocurrencies in the same period was the fossil fuel industry, which spent $176 million over the past 14 years.
“These spendings are concerning not just because crypto companies may be able to buy off regulatory relief,” Claypool added. “These direct spendings by crypto companies break with long-held conventional wisdom and will likely set a precedent for much larger direct spending by corporations in upcoming elections.”
According to the report, the majority of the crypto industry’s spending this election cycle has gone to the pro-crypto super PAC FairShake and its affiliates, which have received approximately $114 million.
Cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple have been the biggest spenders in the digital asset space so far this year. Coinbase donated $50.5 million, with $45.5 million of that going to Fairshake. Ripple donated $49 million in total, with $45 million of that going to Fairshake.
The Hill has reached out to Coinbase and Ripple for comment.
Former President Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party have been hugely supportive of cryptocurrencies during the election, with the Republican platform promising to “end the Democrats’ illegal and un-American crackdown on cryptocurrencies” and the former president headlining a Bitcoin conference last month where he unveiled crypto policy proposals.
In recent years, the industry has frequently expressed frustration with the Biden administration and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler’s approach to enforcement.
But since President Biden left office last month and endorsed Vice President Harris for the presidency, some in the crypto industry are hoping for change. Several crypto-friendly Democrats held a rally in support of Harris last week, while also calling for a “reset” of the industry.
