- FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried emerged sixth-largest individual donor for the campaigns.
- He has donated $36,793,95 to Democrats and $235,200 to Republicans.
- Crypto firms seek to present their perspectives better to the election winners.
Amidst a heavy market slump, the crypto industry spends millions of dollars on the US midterm elections in hopes of winning the favor of politicians. This strategy comes against the backdrop of Congress demanding tougher regulation of digital assets and stablecoins in 2023, which can be a crucial moment for Crypto’s future.
Crypto exchange FTX’s CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried emerged as one of the top spenders for the US elections in a bid to outrace other crypto bigshots. He has contributed nearly $40 million to campaigns and is also the sixth-largest individual donor in the US, as per data from OpenSecrets.
The data shows him particularly backing Democrats with a contribution of $36,793,95, but he also donated $235,200 to Republicans.
Leading crypto-exchange Coinbase, crypto investing firm Robinhood and industry trade group Chamber of Digital Commerce have their political action committee(PACs) donate to Rep. Patrick McHenry. In actuality, both Coinbase and Robinhood have PACs that have spent more than $11,000 and $44,000, respectively, for the elections.
It is worth reminding that if Republicans win major votes, then McHenry will likely become the chairman of the House of Representatives.
Strikingly, crypto industries have not been betting on a single party merely. To play it safe, the industry is also trying not to hurt other party’s representatives. As a testimony to this, Coinbase, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, and crypto-firm HODL’s PAC donated to Senator Ron Wyden, the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
The midterm elections become even more important at a time when the crypto market is bleeding red, with Bitcoin’s price going down by 70% from its all-time high, the ongoing Binance-FTX faceoff, and looming inflation reports.
Thus, by contributing large amounts, crypto companies and DeFi promoters in particular are hoping to better present their perspectives to the election winners.
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