Fairshake, a pro-crypto United States super political action committee (PAC), has seen its coffers swell with a $25-million donation from Ripple. Fairshake is the richest nonpartisan super PAC in the 2024 election cycle and third richest overall, having raised between $102 million and $110 million, depending on reports.
Ripple contributed $25 million to Fairshake in 2023 as well. CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in a statement:
"Our contributions to Fairshake are just one of the many ways Ripple will actively invest in educating voters on the role crypto will play in the future and the dangers of the anti-crypto stance some policymakers are clinging to in Washington."
Fairshake says it “supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generation of the internet,” but its crypto slant is clear. The super PAC’s contributor list reads like a Who’s Who of the crypto world.
The wide range of Fairshake contributors
According to Open Secret, whose data have not been updated to reflect the new Ripple donation at the time of writing, contributors donating less than $1 million include former Bitfinex executive Phil Potter (twice, for a total just under $2 million), Fred Ersham and Matt Huang of Paradigm, Wences Casares of Xapo Bank, executives of Electric Capital, a16z-backed Lightspark Group and billionaire Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest.
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Politicians that Fairshake has supported reportedly include Patrick McHenry, Dusty Johnson, Wiley Nickel and several others. It worked against California progressive Katie Porter.
Nonpartisan but not completely neutral
According to Open Secret, whose data do not yet include the new Ripple donation, Fairshake has overwhelmingly spent its funds to oppose Democratic candidates, while opposing no Republicans. It spent $629,646 to support Democrats and $551,675 to support Republicans. As a super PAC, it is not allowed to contribute directly to candidates to coordinate its activities with them.
Coinbase has also established a PAC — Stand with Crypto, which donates to Fairshake independently of the crypto exchange. Stand with Crypto has a more grassroots foundation. Its war chest of at least $87.2 million was gathered from some of its approximately 860,000 members. Its largest donation was $1 million from MoonPay, with the next largest being $20,000.
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