Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for global policy and regulation. He doesn't hold any crypto.
The crypto industry has been deploying a $169 million fund that's so far supported more than 20 congressional primary wins in the 2024 elections – including helping knock off an incumbent congressman in New York this week.
The digital assets industry has amassed a juggernaut of campaign finance, a $169 million fund that's capable of steering many contests this year and could decide the makeup of next year's Congress. It's already scored more than 20 victories, including high-profile elections in California and, just this week, New York.
"We're trying to de-politicize crypto," said Faryar, who migrated to the industry from Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs Group Inc."Our broader policy and political efforts are designed to allow us to have discussion on the merits."When contacted by CoinDesk, Coinbase invited further questions about its political involvement before declining to get into the nuts and bolts of how decisions are being made with the nearly $50 million the company donated.
Her high-profile Senate campaign in California had raised a little more than $30 million from direct donors and about another $500,000 from outside PAC support, so, thanks to this single industry, about a third of that was directly countered.
Neither Bowman's campaign nor that of the Democratic primary winner, George Latimer, responded to earlier requests for comment on crypto's role. "It's really turning into one of the biggest forces of money in politics in this cycle," said Jordan Libowitz, vice president for communications at the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who equated Fairshake's approach as a"money-in-politics speed run."The amount of money still on hand – which was $109 million as of May 31, according to the PACs – keeps them"on everyone's radar," Libowitz said.
Perianne Boring, the head of the Digital Chamber – a U.S. lobbying arm of the industry – had personally supported the campaign of Gov. DeSantis last year before backing crypto fan Robert Kennedy Jr. this year in his independent bid for the White House. Kristin Smith, who runs the Blockchain Association in Washington, had put her money behind Ramaswamy, who had – for a time – been the candidate with the most aggressive stance on the benefits of cryptocurrencies.
It's unusual for a super PAC to give to both parties, according to Bryner, so that bolsters the industry's non-partisan claim. Business interests have long tried to steer U.S. elections, especially after the Citizens United decision from the U.S. Supreme Court opened a highway of"independent expenditures" by super PACs.
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