Coinbase Fuels Fairshake PAC

Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., announced that it has donated an additional $25 million to industry political action committee (PAC) Fairshake. This move marks the latest escalation of crypto-related spending on the 2024 election.

That spend brings Fairshake's total haul this cycle to $160 million, making it one of the largest PACs attempting to influence the outcome of November's election. In fact, only ActBlue and WinRed—the primary payment processors for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively—show larger hauls this cycle, according to OpenSecrets.

Defining the Fairshake PAC

However, Fairshake does not even appear at the top of the list of PACs with the most funding. In a November 2023 article, Politico defined Fairshake as a new crypto super PAC.

On its website, Fairshake defines itself as a committee that "supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generation of the internet." Of course, the next generation of the Internet is Web3.

Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz Join The Fray

Coinbase's latest $25 million gift to Fairshake follows that of fellow American crypto corporations Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, who made matching donations last week. The three companies were the principal initial bankrollers of Fairshake, which launched late last year to support pro-crypto candidates in federal elections. Paired with the previous week's contributions, today's donation has nearly doubled the size of Fairshake's war chest in a matter of days.

Political Climate Heats Up

These donations come at a particularly lively political moment for crypto. Presidential candidates and federal legislators alike have focused near-unprecedented attention on the industry, both positive and negative. On May 22, the U.S. House of Representatives passed FIT 21, a regulatory framework for the crypto industry.

The landmark vote came just days after an unexpectedly large contingent of Democratic senators broke with President Joe Biden to support the repeal of SAB 121, an anti-crypto rule instituted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Friday, Biden vetoed the SAB 121 repeal, underscoring crypto-related tensions not just in national politics but within his own party. The recent upswing of crypto-related movement in Washington appears to have emboldened companies like Coinbase.

They seek to turn crypto into a key election-year issue and have threatened to unload millions of dollars against the campaigns of vocal -- or perceived -- anti-crypto candidates.

Coinbase CEO's Bold Statement

"The best way to get regulatory clarity in democratic countries is to elect pro-crypto candidates on both sides of the aisle and to vote anti-crypto candidates out of office," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blunt statement announcing the Fairshake donation today.

For a brief period last month, crypto was careening towards partisan issue status. Former president Donald Trump appeared to embrace the industry explicitly, while Biden indicated his displeasure with pro-crypto legislation.

Political chatter within the crypto industry has markedly shifted pro-Trump in recent months. Trump has recently taken a firm crypto stance and has even begun accepting crypto donations for his presidential campaign.

Fairshake's Focus

Coinbase's CEO emphasized Monday that his company's willingness to assert political influence does not mean the industry chooses one political party over another. "This must be a bipartisan effort," Armstrong wrote. "Crypto is truly a bipartisan issue."

Fairshake, however, has overwhelmingly focused its efforts on targeting liberal political candidates it perceives as anti-crypto. Of the $11.3 million the PAC has already spent on the 2024 election, 93.8% of that money has gone either against Democrats or toward Republicans, per OpenSecrets.