‘Short-sighted and stupid’: Dem megadonor abandons crypto super PACs

Top Democratic donor Ron Conway vowed to break away from a network of cryptocurrency's most powerful super PACs after they announced they would spend $12 million to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) without informing him.

Conway, a tech billionaire who donated $500,000 to one of the PACs in December, said the group's money pledge would undermine efforts to pass crypto-friendly legislation in Congress by alienating Democratic lawmakers.

Crypto allies have been pushing hard to get more Democratic policymakers on board with digital assets after an industry-backed House bill garnered unexpected bipartisan support . Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told POLITICO last month that he wanted to take up a similar overhaul of crypto regulation before the end of the year.

"$12M to [Sherrod] Brown's opponent at a time when Sen Schumer is doing his best to get a bill passed in the Senate in the lame duck," Conway wrote in an email Wednesday to dozens of other associated donors, excerpts of which POLITICO viewed Monday. "You all know that is 'slap in the face' to Sen Schumer And a 'slap in the face' to me when you know Im meeting him in SF tomorrow. How short sighted and stupid can you possibly be?"

"NOT ONE PERSON BOTHERED TO GIVE ME A HEADS UP THAT YOU WERE DOINIG [sic] THIS," Conway wrote to allies of the network, known as Fairshake, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. "Im the one using my 25+ year old personal relationships to help this movement the most significantly and not one person bothered to inform me. Sadly, I'm even a donor to Fair Shake."

That support is over, Conway said.

"Because of your selfish hidden agendas it is time for us to separate," he wrote. "This is a wake up call to myself that I have been working too long with people who [do] not share common values and that is unacceptable. ... I will I [sic] no longer compromise myself by associating or helping."

The split underscores the growing tension within the crypto industry as Republicans and Democrats fight to own the issue with tens of millions of dollars in play going into the November election.

"There is an 'elephant in the room,'" Conway wrote. "We have two factions: a moderate faction and a Donald Trump faction (Brian and Marc)."

Conway has met with Democratic lawmakers alongside Coinbase's Armstrong. His venture capital firm, SV Angel, has previously invested in Coinbase.

He said that although Fairshake plans to back an equal number of congressional Democrats and Republicans, "6 of 9 Republicans they are supporting are in truly must-win districts for Dems if they have any chance of taking back the House."

"You do this after the Dems HANDED you the FIT 21 Victory just a few mos ago in May," Conway wrote, in a nod to the 71 House Democrats who helped pass the bipartisan legislation. "Short term memories you have!"

Conway and Fairshake declined requests for comment.

Jasper Goodman and Declan Harty contributed to this report.