Crypto industry spending ‘unprecedented’ money on 2024 election: Report

The cryptocurrency industry has spent more than $119 million on federal elections in 2024 to help boost crypto-friendly candidates and defeat crypto skeptics, according to a new report from Public Citizen .

This “unprecedented” spending represents nearly half — 48 percent — of all corporate money contributed to this year’s elections, the report from the progressive consumer rights watchdog group found.

“That cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase and Ripple are able to spend over a hundred million dollars to silence crypto’s critics and elevate its backers embodies everything that is wrong with the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision,” Rick Claypool, research director at Public Citizen and author of the report, said in a statement.

“Corporations can’t vote,” he continued. “But the sole reason crypto is a hot-button topic in this election cycle is that crypto businesses are spending eye-popping sums 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 limit campaign spending by corporations and outside groups.

Crypto firms have spent a combined $129 million over the last three election cycles, representing 15 percent of all known corporate contributions since the Citizens United decision in 2010, according to the report.

The only industry that has outspent crypto during the same period is the fossil fuel industry, which has spent $176 million over the past 14 years, Public Citizen found.

“All this spending is a concern not just because the crypto companies may be able to buy deregulation,” Claypool added. “This direct spending by crypto corporations is shattering a longstanding norm — and is likely to set a precedent for vastly more direct spending by corporations in upcoming elections.”

Most of the crypto industry’s spending this cycle has gone toward pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates, which have received nearly $114 million, according to the report.

Crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple are some of the biggest spenders in the digital asset space so far this year. Coinbase has contributed $50.5 million, with $45.5 million going to Fairshake. Ripple has given $49 million overall and $45 million to Fairshake.

“By this account, Coinbase’s efforts to support a more free and fair economic future are succeeding. And they are right,” Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, said in a post on X on Wednesday.

“We’re nothing but proud to exercise our free speech rights by advocating for an updated financial system to benefit all Americans.”

Ripple pointed to comments from CEO Brad Garlinghouse about the company’s $25 million contribution to Fairshake in May.

“It’s critical that the US catch up with other leading economies and develop sensible (and CLEAR) rules for crypto,” Garlinghouse wrote on X at the time.

“Ripple’s latest $25M contribution to Fairshake is an investment in the inevitable march of progress and adoption of Crypto and blockchain technologies – the future of finance – and a message to backward looking politicians that their failed policies will not be tolerated!” he continued.

Former President Trump’s campaign and Republicans have largely embraced crypto this cycle. The GOP platform promised to “end Democrats’ unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown,” while the former president headlined a bitcoin conference last month where he laid out his proposed crypto policies.

In recent years, the industry has frequently expressed frustrations with the Biden administration and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s approach to enforcement.

However, since President Biden stepped aside and endorsed Vice President Harris’ bid for president last month, some in the crypto space are hopeful for a change . Several crypto-friendly Democrats rallied for Harris last week while also pushing for a “reset” with the industry.

Updated at 6 p.m. E.T.

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