A watchdog group claims that crypto corporations have spent more than $119 million in an effort to influence federal elections this year and there is a big war chest remaining.
The Public Citizen report said that most of the donations have flowed into a non-partisan super PAC dedicated to electing pro-crypto candidates and defeating crypto skeptics. Fairshake PAC and its affiliates have received nearly $114 million directly from corporate backers, according to the report.
The biggest donors, according to the findings, have been Coinbase and Ripple.
That is more than half the $202.9 million that the PAC has raised. Most of the rest of the PAC's funds come from crypto executives and venture capitalists, including $44 million from the founders of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, $5 million from the Winklevoss twins and $1 million from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, according to Public Citizen.
The group says crypto corporations are "by far" the dominant political spenders this year with nearly half of all corporate contributions during this year's election cycle coming from crypto backers.
The group found crypto backers have poured $248 million into elections this year.
The findings of the Public Citizen report came from an analysis of federal election data provided by OpenSecrets showing all contributions of $5,000 or more by pro-profit corporations to super PACs and hybrid PACs between 2010 and June 30, 2024.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has recently been aligning himself with the cryptocurrency industry, and on Thursday, news emerged that he disclosed personal holdings of over $1 million in cryptocurrencies held in an Ethereum wallet.
His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris will support policies seeking to expand growth in the cryptocurrency industry, one of his senior campaign aides said this week.
