campaign contributions

U.S. Crypto PAC Fairshake Steps Up For an Encore in Florida’s Special Elections

Published

3 months ago

January 18, 2025

Crypto’s chief political action committee has put money on its picks for the Florida congressional seats vacated by one of President-elect Donald Trump’s closest allies, Matt Gaetz, and the politician Trump tapped as a national security advisor, Michael Waltz.

With an extremely tight majority in the House of Representatives, the replacement of the two Florida Republicans is paramount to the party’s political agenda in Congress. Crypto super PAC Fairshake — through its affiliate PAC, Defend American Jobs — has begun spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pro-crypto names in the special elections set to fill the seats.

Gaetz was briefly President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general — the nation’s highest law enforcement official — but he resigned from consideration and from Congress as pressures mounted from a House ethics investigation into his alleged payments for drugs and sex (including a report of sexual activity with a 17-year-old).

Trump turned to embrace the state’s chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, as his favored candidate to fill the resulting opening in the House of Representatives. Patronis, who is outpacing a crowded field of Republican rivals in the January 28 primary, is benefiting from about $200,000 in ad spending from Fairshake, the group said.

In October, Patronis pushed for putting some state pension money into crypto investments.

The PAC also committed about $500,000 to get state Senator Randy Fine to fill Representative Waltz’s vacancy. Trump also backed Fine in an endorsement that reportedly scattered a number of potential competitors.

The candidate posted on social media site X this week that “Floridians want crypto innovation!”

Super PACs can buy ads for or against candidates, as long as they’re “independent expenditures” not approved or coordinated by the candidates. Fairshake spent $139 million to help get 53 allies into the new session of Congress, so one in ten of the sitting lawmakers benefited from crypto-funded ads.

“We are keeping our foot on the gas,” Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto said on Friday.

The PAC still has a towering $103 million in funds at its disposal for the next congressional election cycle, putting it far ahead for the 2026 races.

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A16z crypto

Ripple Drops Another $25M Into Crypto PAC to Sway 2026 Congressional Races

Published

5 months ago

November 27, 2024

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Ripple Labs has kicked in another $25 million to the cryptocurrency industry’s Fairshake political action committee, one of the most aggressive and high-dollar campaign-finance operations in corporate history.

The super PAC has made an unprecedented head start on the 2026 election cycle. Between Ripple, crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Fairshake has amassed $73 million in fresh commitments. That’s on top of $30 million held over from the 2024 cycle.

The PAC is still awaiting the results in one U.S. congressional contest in the Nov. 5 elections, but Fairshake’s track record includes backing at least 53 members of next year’s Congress.

“Fairshake is the most successful multi-candidate, bipartisan super PAC in American history,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse posted Tuesday on X (formerly Twitter). “Electing pro-crypto, pro-growth and pro-innovation candidates is a no-brainer, and to continue that momentum, Ripple is contributing another $25M to Fairshake.”

The $103 million war chest makes Fairshake an unmatched political force to influence the session beginning in 2027, more than two years and a whole congressional cycle from now.

Ripple, Coinbase and a16z made up the vast bulk of resources Fairshake devoted to congressional races in an attempt to ensure pro-digital assets candidates would pass legislation during the session beginning in January. The industry has waited for years for the U.S. government to clarify its rules for this sector, and the resulting uncertainty has left a lot of potential business on the sidelines.

None of the three companies will comment on how decisions are made in the operation of Fairshake, nor how they guide the super PAC’s strategy. But Fairshake’s spokesman, Josh Vlasto, has said the political strategy is a transparent support of crypto advocates from either party who are willing to work across the aisle on legislation.

Each of the three companies has now participated in three rounds of funding for the PAC, each at approximately the same level. The other two had already jumped into the post-election support, and Ripple is now joining them, bringing the company’s overall support to about $73 million.

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