Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal discusses the ’emergence of the crypto voter’ on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Coinbase, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is already looking past next week’s presidential election and planning to influence the 2026 midterms with a new $25 million commitment to pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake, FOX Business has learned.
The company says it plans to make the donation in 2025 as part of an ongoing commitment to keep crypto a key part of the political conversation. It’s unclear how exactly the money will be used, but Fairshake and its affiliated super PACs have utilized crypto-industry funds this election cycle to deploy ad campaigns across digital and broadcast platforms to prop up pro-industry candidates and attack those who are against it.
“We have seen a transformational shift in how both parties understand and approach crypto and blockchain technology, with a bipartisan consensus arriving at the need to stop playing politics and support innovation to create jobs,” Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto told FOX Business.
“We look forward to continuing to build a long-term sustainable crypto coalition that will pass responsible regulation to protect consumers and ensure the United States continues to lead the way in technological innovation, growth and jobs.”
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Coinbase says it plans to make the donation in 2025 as part of an ongoing commitment to keep crypto a key part of the political conversation. (iStock / iStock)
Coinbase’s latest donation brings the company’s total political spending to $75 million and comes just one week from the culmination of the 2024 election cycle, where the exchange has been one of the largest corporate spenders with more than $50 million donated to various super PACs supporting congressional candidates who are favorable of the $2 trillion digital asset industry. Coinbase’s contributions make up 30% of the more than $170 million donated this year by U.S. crypto giants like blockchain payments company Ripple and venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz.
“We’re in it for the long haul, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is and putting a down payment for the ’26 cycle,” Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad told FOX Business.
In addition to the donation, Coinbase says it’s also pledging to help its affiliated advocacy group, Stand with Crypto (SWC), double its membership from 1.8 million to 4 million advocates between now and the midterms.
SWC has helped educate and mobilize pro-crypto voters over the past year through lobbying efforts in the swing states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin. According to its website, more than 400,000 users have engaged with SWC’s voter registration tool and the organization has helped register over 100,000 voters in swing states.
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“I feel like, even without knowing the results of the election, crypto has already won,” Shirzad said. “The number of candidates who are now talking about crypto, who’ve taken pro-crypto positions, the ability that the process has given us to talk to candidates from the presidential all the way down to lower offices, has been extraordinary.”
With 1 in 5 Americans now owning some form of digital asset, the so-called crypto voter bloc could have a meaningful impact on Tuesday as voters head to the ballot box to choose the candidates they feel best represent their financial interests. A recent Harris Poll, done in partnership with crypto asset manager Grayscale, revealed that around 56% of all voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who is “informed about crypto” compared to one who is not.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump has picked up on the potential power of the crypto voter and has been courting the industry with promises of looser regulation and to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the world.”
Former President Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville July 27, 2024. (Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee in July, has been less vocal about where she stands on crypto, but has made some statements that suggest she would be supportive of deploying rules of the road so that the industry can keep growing in the U.S.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the American Federation of Teachers’ 88th National Convention July 25, 2024, in Houston. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images / Getty Images)
While some critics, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have blasted the industry for using its coffers to sway the election in order to get a favorable return in Washington, Shirzad says the industry is helping give the crypto community a voice.
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“The fact that 400,000 people signed up as crypto advocates in the two weeks leading up to the FIT21 crypto bill vote in Congress in June gives you a sense of how real the passion is in the community,” he said. “So, for sure, there’s an industry that’s involved in all of this, but the much more powerful part of this is the grassroots. And I think anybody who thinks that they can ignore that percentage of the population, I think, is kidding themselves.”