Crypto industry’s campaign spending at record level, says watchdog report

Cryptocurrency companies are pouring an “unprecedented” amount of money into federal elections, according to a watchdog report Wednesday that says the industry accounts for nearly half of the direct corporate spending this cycle.

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said crypto corporations have been responsible for $119 million of the $248 million in direct corporate spending. Bitcoin players want to help pro-crypto candidates while defeating skeptics of their industry, which offers a digital currency outside the traditional money system overseen by government and banking authorities.

“Direct corporate election spending at this scale is unprecedented,” Public Citizen said in a summary of its findings.

The report says crypto companies, through the past three election cycles, have accounted for 15% of all known corporate contributions since the Supreme Court in 2010 allowed unlimited donations to super PACs, which aren’t supposed to coordinate directly with candidates’ campaigns.

Public Citizen said the crypto industry is second only to fossil fuel corporations in spending since the ruling. That industry has shelled out $176 million the past 14 years.

One crypto PAC, Fairshake, and its affiliates have received nearly $114 million directly from corporate backers this cycle, leaving Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity as a distant second among PACs, having received nearly $26 million.

Political intervention by crypto companies has a troubled past. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried flaunted his political connections to promote his company, only to run into legal trouble and criminal convictions.

Yet money talks, and the industry’s latest efforts appear to be paying off, according to Public Citizen, which found the crypto sector got its preferred outcome in 36 of 42 primary races where its super PACs intervened.

“The even partisan split in both houses of Congress means the crypto sector’s outsized influence in competitive races has the potential to tip control of Congress one way or the other,” the report said. “If crypto corporations are successful in directly leveraging their financial power into political power, more corporations and business sectors may follow the same playbook.”

Former President Donald Trump was once a bitcoin skeptic, but now he’s embracing it as the GOP nominee.

“I will ensure that the future of crypto and bitcoin will be made in the USA, not driven overseas,” he said at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in May.

He’s also portrayed it as an energy issue, pointing to the amount of computing power needed for bitcoin mining.

Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t taken a strong public position on cryptocurrency, and the Democratic Party platform is silent on the topic. 

Yet media reports have the Democratic nominee seeking a “reset” with the industry. An outside group called Crypto4Harris said on X it’s “organizing, fundraising and developing a nuanced crypto-policy approach for the Harris For President campaign.”