Big Bucks for Harris
Dude, let’s talk about Chris Larsen! This guy, co-founder of Ripple, just dropped a whopping $9.9 million on Future Forward last month. That’s major cash, bro! Plus, he kicked in over $800,000 to the Harris Victory Fund. Crazy, right? This info comes from FEC data put together by the Breadcrumbs crypto market analyst, James Delmore, and verified by those peeps over at CNBC.
Crypto Donations Galore
Hold up, it gets even better! When you add in Larsen’s $1 million worth of XRP tokens from August, he’s thrown over $11.8 million at PACs backing Harris. Talk about being a heavy hitter in the crypto donation game, man! This makes him one of the biggest donors in the crypto scene for this election cycle.
Larsen, 64, loves candidates from both sides of the aisle. He told CNBC he vibes with Harris due to chats he’s had with her team and what he’s seen from her since she took over the presidential ticket in July. Since she’s from the Bay Area, that connection makes sense.
“She’s grown around the innovation economy her whole life,” Larsen said about Harris. “I think she truly gets it. The Biden squad didn’t seem to recognize the link between empowering workers and making sure American champs rule their industries.”
History of Support
This isn’t his first rodeo with Harris. Back in February, he sent her the max personal contribution of $6,600, which covers both the primary and general election. He also tossed $100,000 to the Harris Action Fund PAC at the same time. Clearly, he’s all in!
Larsen’s got a net worth of $3.1 billion, mostly thanks to his XRP holdings and his role in Ripple. The dude is raking it in! Crypto has suddenly found its place in political fundraising, especially for Republicans. Public Citizen reports that almost half of all corporate cash in the election is coming from the crypto world.
Political Landscape Shifting
The Trump PAC has pulled in around $7.5 million from crypto donations since early summer. Meanwhile, Fairshake, one of the big spenders this year, is betting big on close House races. They just dropped nearly $29 million in September alone.
That stash included $20 million to two PACs linked to them. They funneled $15 million to Defend American Jobs PAC, which is focused on crypto and blockchain stuff but mainly backs Republicans. They tossed another $5 million to Protect Progress, which plays favorites with the Democrats.
Fairshake also dumped $8.8 million last month, mostly in House races in New York, Nevada, and California. Some of these are neck-and-neck battles, according to the Cook Political Report. Among the lucky ones grabbing cash are Southern Californian Republicans, David G. Valadao and Michael Garcia. They pulled in $1.3 million and $1 million, respectively.
For the 2024 cycle, overall crypto donations hit around $190 million, and crypto folks have already spent over $130 million on this year’s congressional races and primaries.
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