‘Big Crypto’ lobbying furiously as 2024 US election heads into home stretch

‘Crypto’ firms account for nearly half of all corporate political donations in the U.S. 2024 election cycle, while debate rages over which presidential candidate will boost bags bigger.

This week, the Public Citizen consumer advocacy group released a report titled ‘Big Crypto, Big Spending’ that showed ‘crypto corporations’—digital asset firms and their venture capital partners—pouring $119 million into the current U.S. election cycle. That represents 48% of total corporate cash contributed to date for the 2024 elections and 15% of all known corporate contributions since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010.

This year’s crypto funding surge pushes the sector into second place for election-related spending over the past 14 years, behind only fossil fuel corporations like Koch Industries. And that $119 million only accounts for contributions through June 30.

Public Citizen noted that no industry “has so wholeheartedly embraced raising as much directly from corporations and openly using that political war chest as a looming threat (or reward) to discipline lawmakers toward adopting an industry’s preferred policies.”

Public Citizen notes that of the 42 primary campaigns to which Fairshake and its affiliated political action committees (PAC) have contributed, crypto’s preferred candidates have prevailed in 36 of those races. That includes the $1.3 million spent backing Yassamin Ansari, who this week was declared the extremely narrow victor—winning by a mere 39 votes—of a House of Representatives Democratic primary contest in Arizona.

And while crypto firms have promoted questionable survey data indicating huge grassroots support for digital assets, most Fairshake-funded ads attacking crypto opponents make no mention whatsoever of crypto, instead “smear[ing] the candidates’ using unflattering claims having nothing to do with crypto policy.” Crypto also goes unmentioned in Fairshake-funded spots promoting crypto-friendly candidates.

As Public Citizen put it, “for Americans hopeful the federal government will prioritize their interest in a stable economy and crack down on Ponzi-like schemes and scams, crypto’s corporate influence corrupting our political process can only be for worse.”

Fairshake has pledged cash to elect/defeat candidates regardless of party affiliation, a stance that has riled some Republicans, who feel their party’s more shameless embrace of all things ‘crypto’ should have earned them some loyalty. But Donald Trump’s recent slump in the polls against Kamala Harris has some pro-Trump ‘crypto’ bros furiously trying to hedge their bets at the last minute.

Bald guys for Trump

But Fairshake’s recent pledge to spend $12 million to defeat noted ‘crypto’ critic and Senate Banking Committee chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has cost the group one of its deep-pocketed contributors.

Ron Conway, a Silicon Valley ‘super angel’ VC who made early investments in Facebook (NASDAQ: META), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL), and Reddit, donated $500,000 to Fairshake but sent an email to its other contributors last week saying “it is time for us to separate.”

On August 19, Politico reported that Conway’s email called the anti-Brown spending “short sighted and stupid” and complained that “NOT ONE PERSON BOTHERED TO GIVE ME A HEADS UP” of this plan.

Conway noted that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “is doing his best to get a bill passed in the Senate in the lame duck” session of Congress. As such, attacking his colleague Brown was a “slap in the face” for both Schumer and Conway, who had an upcoming meeting with Schumer.

Conway’s email blasted the “selfish hidden agendas” of the biggest Fairshake contributors, including Brian Armstrong, CEO of the Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) exchange; Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse; and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

While Conway’s half-a-million contribution pales in comparison to other Fairshake notables—Coinbase/Armstrong contributed over $50 million to Fairshake and related PACs, with Ripple not far behind—Conway brought other talents to the mix, including his ability to leverage his “25+ year old personal relationships to help this movement the most significantly.”

Conway said Fairshake was split into “two factions: a moderate faction and a Donald Trump faction (Brian and Marc).” Conway said he had been “working too long with people who [do] not share common values and that is unacceptable.”

#BeDependent

Crypto’s evident support of Trump got another boost on August 22 as the GOP candidate promoted his family’s upcoming decentralized finance (DeFi) product via his Truth Social account. Trump said the ‘BeDefiant’ project would “take a stand” against Americans who felt “squeezed by the big banks and financial elites.”

Last week, Trump’s son Eric suggested that the project had something to do with ‘digital real estate’ loans. On August 20, Eric said his family was “almost ready to make some big announcements regarding the Crypto project… Getting very excited.”

While Trump supporters point to statements like these as proof of Donald’s devotion to digital assets, it’s worth noting that he did absolutely nothing for ‘crypto’ during his four years in office and reportedly tried to ban BTC in 2020. This ban was only prevented by then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin ‘slow-walking’ Donald’s demand until his term was up.

In a bid to further hype the GOP’s ‘crypto’ stance, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) pledged this week to add a digital asset subcommittee to the Senate Banking Committee if Republicans retake the Senate. Speaking Wednesday at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Scott said a crypto subcommittee would “bring more light to the conversation, more hearings on the industry, so that we get things done faster.”

Trump’s chances of retaking the White House appear a lot less certain than they did a month ago, but unlike in 2016, he’s actually preparing a transition team this time. The Hill reported on August 16 that two deep-pocketed campaign contributors—Cantor Fitzgerald (NASDAQ: ZCFITX) boss Howard Lutnick and WWE Co-Founder Linda McMahon—will serve as the team’s co-chairs.

Lutnick is a BTC bull who last year advised Republicans in the House of Representatives on stablecoin matters and spoke at this year’s BTC shindig in Nashville. Cantor Fitzgerald allegedly acts as custodian of the U.S. Treasury bills allegedly backing the over $117 billion in circulating USDT, the controversial stablecoin issued by Tether.

But Lutnick may have personal skin in seeing Trump win the election, as Tether rival Circle (issuer of the USDC stablecoin) previously suggested federal authorities could reduce USDT’s ability to fund crime by targeting the U.S. company custodying Tether’s T-bills. Presumably, Trump would be able to call off the Department of Justice’s dogs before they get to Lutnick’s corner office.

See your future!

On the other side of the ballot, the Democrat’s official party platform did not mention digital assets, unlike the GOP platform’s pledge to “defend the right” to mine BTC and self-custody digital assets. Efforts to pin down Harris on her ‘crypto’ views remain elusive, although there was a flurry of hope on that front this week.

Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-NC) organized a meeting of ‘crypto’ advocates on the fringes of this week’s Democratic National Convention, telling them things were “moving in the right direction.” Nickel added that Harris was “coming up with her own positions” and claimed details would be released “in the coming days.”

On August 21, Bloomberg queried Senior Campaign Advisor Brian Nelson about the campaign’s stance on the digital asset sector. Nelson said Harris would “support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow.” Nelson said the crypto sector has “expressed that one of the things that they need are stable rules, rules of the road.”

Crypto bros were quick to pop their champagne corks, taking Nelson’s comments as confirmation of a Harris ‘reset’ to a more favorable crypto outlook than the perceived stance of President Joe Biden’s administration. Nickel was quick to declare how “thrilled” he was at this “important policy statement.”

But a little caution is warranted, as ‘stable rules’ aren’t necessarily ‘industry-friendly’ rules, particularly since this industry prefers no rules whatsoever. Even Bloomberg noted that the Dems were likely only signaling that guardrails were required for an industry that, up to now, has acted like a methed-up kid locked overnight in a Toys R Us.

Regardless, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal—who’d celebrated the Public Citizen report on crypto campaign financing by saying Coinbase was “nothing but proud to exercise our free speech rights”—celebrated Harris’s alleged policy shift by retweeting Nickel and saying ‘proof of concept.’

It’s hard to tell what’s more cynical. Grewal viewing U.S. politics as a purely cash-and-carry endeavor? Or his belief that “a more free and fair economic future” can be achieved via Coinbase’s listing of utility-free $hitcoins—including projects in which Coinbase has a stake—so suckers in Grewal’s rigged ‘crypto casino’ can have something to bet on?

Oh, and fresh off Coinbase’s Arizona House primary victory, the state’s attorney general issued a warning this week regarding “cryptocurrency scams targeting vulnerable individuals, particularly senior citizens,” noting that “scammers are always finding new ways to steal your money using cryptocurrency.” Free and fair to be victimized, huh Paul?

The F stands for ‘fail’

Trump’s campaign could get a small boost based on reports that independent presidential/roadkill aficionado Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to drop out of this race. RFK Jr. is a longtime BTC supporter who questioned Trump’s recent crypto conversion at last month’s Nashville event.

RFK Jr. is reportedly planning to announce the suspension of his campaign Friday at a stop in Arizona, a state that Trump will conveniently be visiting around the same time. Scuttlebutt has it that RFK Jr. will endorse Trump, possibly in exchange for the promise of a role in Trump’s second administration.

RFK Jr.’s candidacy was never going to succeed, but debates raged regarding which of his rivals would bleed more support if he stayed in the race. Originally flagged as a Biden spoiler, RFK Jr. appeared to be siphoning off Trump’s more libertarian fans, and thus, his exit could give Trump a well-needed nudge in key battleground states.

Both candidates sniped at each other on the campaign trail, with RFK Jr. calling Trump “unhinged” while Trump labeled RFK Jr. “fake” and a “left lunatic.” But that was then; this is now. Trump said this week that he’d be “honored” by RFK Jr. endorsing his campaign, calling RFK Jr. “a brilliant guy” that he’s “always liked.”

Remember that 180° boomerang the next time someone tells you that Trump’s support for ‘crypto’ is sincere. He’s simply telling people what they want to hear because he wants things from them—votes, campaign contributions, fawning adoration, etc.—and he’ll immediately revert to his original line of thinking the minute he no longer needs you.

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