Cryptocurrency company Ripple Announced $25 million donation On Wednesday, it donated money to the Fair Shake Super PAC as part of an industry-wide effort to promote pro-cryptocurrency policies and politicians.
Last December, Ripple pledged $20 million to FairShake, which has already spent $11.3 million on federal elections. This wave of donations marks a significant expansion of Ripple’s political activities. Ripple has donated just $500,000 to the 2022 election cycle, according to a statement from FairShake. Federal Election Commission (FEC) Data.
“Ripple, and the cryptocurrency industry, will not stand by while unelected regulators actively seek to thwart the innovation and economic growth that millions of Americans rely on,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said.
Fairshake is $52.2 million The cash on hand as of April 30 represents a significant fund heading into the 2024 elections.
More than $10 million of the super PAC’s spending so far has gone to opposing Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) in the Senate race. Porter, who lost the Democratic Senate primary in March, said:Strongly opposed to cryptocurrencies“This comes from Stand With Crypto, a 501(c)4 nonprofit that another cryptocurrency giant, Coinbase, helped found last summer.”
Coinbase is another major donor to FairShake Together The crypto community, including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, asset management firm ARK Invest and crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm Operations, has been at loggerheads with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent years, suing Ripple and Coinbase for allegedly violating federal securities laws.
However, the House of Representatives last week passed the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act (FIT 21), a comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation that would classify most digital assets as “commodities” regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The bill would see only certain digital assets regulated as “securities” by the SEC, but it has yet to be passed by the Senate.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Opposed the bill“It would create a new regulatory vacuum and undermine decades of precedent,” he said.
“The cryptocurrency industry’s record of failures, frauds and bankruptcies is not because there are no rules or because the rules are unclear,” the SEC chairman said ahead of the House vote. “It’s because many players in the cryptocurrency industry are not following the rules.”
Perhaps one of the biggest scandals to rock the industry was the downfall of disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman Freed, who became the political face of crypto in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections and to whom he publicly donated. Over $40.7 million He gave heavily to groups supporting mostly Democratic candidates, making him the seventh-largest donor during that election, according to Open Secrets, a political finance research group, though he later acknowledged making “hidden” donations to groups supporting Republicans that were not included in that total.
The crypto industry was quick to distance itself from Bankman Freed after his trading platform FTX collapsed just days after the midterm elections, and he was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison on federal fraud and conspiracy charges for his role in the collapse.
The cryptocurrency industry as a whole has also stepped up its political engagement, spending millions of dollars on political donations and lobbying for bills including FIT21. Garlinghouse said, “The cryptocurrency industry intends to continue to invest heavily in this effort until we see meaningful change.”
Ripple called the 2024 election “the most important election in cryptocurrency history.”
“We need to elect leaders who understand this potential and support policies that protect consumers and our markets in a fair and innovation-friendly way,” Ripple said in a statement.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
