A day before the US general election, crypto corporations have already poured tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars into the upcoming 2026 cycle. Crypto-friendly and nonpartisan super PAC Fairshake said Monday that the committee and its affiliates have raised $78 million for the 2026 midterm elections.
That $78 million is spread across greater than $30 million raised, plus one other $48 million in latest commitments from centralized crypto exchanges Coinbase and Silicon Valley enterprise fund Andreessen Horowitz, amongst other corporations.
Earlier Monday, a16z general partner Chris Dixon, who leads the fund's crypto book, said published a note It explains why the corporate donated a further $23 million to Fairshake.
“Regardless of what happens in the 2024 election, we are committed to supporting policymakers, regardless of party affiliation, who will work to create a practical regulatory framework that protects consumers while enabling the industry to grow,” it said within the letter.
Dixon added that “supporting a PAC like Fairshake is just a critical part of the strategy needed to achieve our larger policy goals” and that a16z will proceed to fulfill with policymakers on either side of the aisle to advocate for the industry to make use of.
In total, a16z has donated $70 million to Fairshake because the VC looks to support the PAC's larger mission of constructing a Congress of pro-cryptocurrency lawmakers.
On Wednesday, Coinbase announced it will donate a further $25 million to Fairshake.
Coinbase, the most important U.S. crypto exchange, has been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations it engaged in unregistered securities sales. It is amongst Fairshake's top contributors this cycle. The exchange has donated greater than $75 million to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs.
“We know we need to pass pro-crypto legislation in this country,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in the course of the third-quarter earnings call. Shares of Coinbase plunged 15% after the corporate reported declines in sales and profits.
Ripple Labs is one other major political donor this cycle, having donated around $50 million to Fairshake. A spokesperson said the corporate has committed $25 million each this 12 months and last and intends to stay a powerful force in D.C. for years to come back.
Fairshake told CNBC it raised about $170 million and paid out about $135 million this cycle.
The majority of the group's funding comes from Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs. The remainder comes from a combination of corporations and individual donors. Armstrong, for instance, donated $1 million, while the Winklevoss twins contributed $5 million.
Launched last 12 months by a consortium of crypto firms, Fairshake is one in every of the top-spending PACs in 2024, even in comparison with oil corporations and banks which were big political donors previously. Almost half of all corporate money flowing into the election comes from the crypto industry. in line with a report from the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen.
Fairshake's spending, targeting House and Senate elections within the 2024 cycle, is effective. Public Citizen's report found that of the 42 primaries that raised money from crypto-funded super PACs, 36 were won by the candidate backed by the crypto industry.
Fairshake's corporate and individual donors need to see crypto laws passed within the US
Dixon and others say they’re looking for comprehensive laws in the marketplace structure for digital assets and a law to control stablecoins, tokens pegged to the worth of a real-world asset and now virtually synonymous with coins pegged to the U.S. dollar are.
“Many industries are coming to DC asking for rules to be rolled back, and we have come to DC asking to put them in place,” Dixon wrote in his post Monday.
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