“Make Bitcoin Great Again” hats are on sale at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, US, on Saturday, July 27, 2024. Former US President Trump used to be a critic of cryptocurrencies, but in recent weeks he has adopted a more friendly stance alongside an appearance The sector as an influential player in the 2024 presidential elections through large donations to the Political Action Committee.
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As the 2024 elections come to a close, a leading pro-crypto political action committee has shifted a significant portion of its final donations to closing House races as part of an effort to push candidates supportive of the group's agenda to the top.
Fairshake, which has been one of the biggest spenders of any industry this election cycle, donated nearly $29 million in September, according to Federal Election Commission data released to the public on Sunday. Of that amount, $20 million went to two affiliated political action committees — $15 million to the Committee to Defend American Jobs, a single-issue committee focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain policy that favors Republicans, and $5 million to Protect Progress, which supported Democrats. only.
As for the remaining $8.8 million that Fairshake spent last month, most of it went to election races in New York, Nevada and California, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by cryptocurrency and blockchain market analyst James Delmore and verified by CNBC.
Many of these races are considered toss-ups by the Cook Political Report. Winners included Southern California Republicans David J. Valadao and Michael Garcia, both vying to retain their seats. They earned $1.3 million and $1 million respectively.
“Fairshake’s donations to California candidates in swing districts are important not only to elect pro-crypto candidates to House seats that could go either way, but also because a lot of crypto companies are still based in California,” Delmore said. . “California needs everything it can get from pro-crypto politicians.”
Additionally, Fairshake has given more than $1.9 million to Rep. Patrick Ryan (D-NY), more than $1.7 million to Rep. Stephen Horsford (D-NV) and nearly $1 million to Rep. Angela Dunn Craig (D-MN). The remaining money went to a mix of candidates in Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, Iowa and Arkansas.
Of the House donations, $6.2 million went to Democratic candidates and $2.3 million went to Republicans. In the September window, Protect Progress gave more than $10 million to Democrats running for Senate in Arizona and Michigan.
For the 2024 cycle, political donations from or support of the cryptocurrency industry have reached around $190 million, with contributions coming from some of the biggest names in the sector. A report by Public Citizen in August found that cryptocurrency companies have accounted for nearly half of all corporate donations this election cycle.
Cryptocurrency groups spent more than $130 million in congressional races for this year's elections, including primaries, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Delmore told CNBC that donations to Fairshake have been tepid in the past few months.
In September, the group added about $1.1 million, with $800,000 coming from cryptocurrency company Consensys, which was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, and $1,000 from Moonsong Labs CEO Derek Yoo.
In total, Fairshake raised more than $160 million and spent more than $37 million to support House candidates and to run ads opposing Democrat Katie Porter, who lost in California's Senate primary. More than $84 million has been transferred to Fairshake's political action committees.
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