A political action committee supporting former President Donald Trump has raised nearly $7.5 million in cryptocurrency donations since early June, according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission. Trump’s joint fundraising committee received 47 contributions in Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP, as well as the stablecoins Tether and USD Coin.
Latest Depositwhich was introduced Tuesday, covers donations from July 1 through Sept. 30 and includes cumulative contributions. This huge amount of cryptocurrency donations confirms previous data, which confirmed that the industry is betting heavily on Trump, with the US elections approaching in just three weeks.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency donations support Trump campaign
Trump, who previously expressed skepticism toward Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies during his presidency, has repositioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate. In May, he became the first major presidential contender to accept campaign donations in the form of digital assets. “The campaign raised $25 million from the cryptocurrency industry,” Trump announced during a keynote speech at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville in July.
Nearly half of the corporate money flowing into the upcoming election came from the cryptocurrency sector, according to a report by the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen. Major contributors include Coinbase, Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, who collectively account for a significant portion of business donations. The industry has raised nearly 13 times the amount it brought in during the last presidential election cycle.
At least 18 donors contributed more than $5.5 million in bitcoin to the Trump 47 committee, while seven other individuals donated about $1.5 million in ether, according to the filing. Contributors hail from more than 15 states, including major battlegrounds, as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico. Their occupations range from software engineers at defense contractor Lockheed Martin to sales engineers at Duthie Power Services and producers at Esperanza Entertainment.
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc., contributed. Media, with more than $498,000 in Bitcoin. Billy was instrumental in “decorating” Trump with oranges, culminating with the former president’s participation in the Nashville conference. Mike Belschi, CEO of digital asset security firm BitGo, has donated nearly $100,000 in bitcoin. Brian Murray, a partner at Craft Ventures — which was founded by pro-Trump venture capitalist David Sachs — provided $6,560 in bitcoin.
Trevor Traina, founder of Kresus Labs, has donated over $25,000 in ether. Bruce Fenton, CEO of Chainstone Labs, contributed $60,000 in Bitcoin. Gary Cardone of Cardone Digital Ventures has donated more than $840,000 in Bitcoin. Stuart Alderotti, Ripple’s chief legal officer, contributed $300,000 in XRP and attended a Trump fundraising event hosted by David Sachs in San Francisco in June.
Alderotti’s contribution contrasts with that of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, who donated $1 million worth of XRP tokens to Future Forward, a super PAC linked to Democratic campaigns. While the Biden administration has taken a tough stance on the cryptocurrency industry, Larsen expressed confidence in Vice President Kamala Harris’ understanding of the innovation economy due to her roots in the Bay Area.
“She has known people who have grown up in the innovation economy her whole life,” Larsen told CNBC. “I think she understood it on a fundamental level, in a way that I think the Biden people didn’t care about, or maybe didn’t make the connection between empowering workers and making sure that there were American champions dominating their industries.”
In addition to Larsen, Uniswap Labs general counsel Marvin Amory — currently facing legal challenges over alleged securities law violations — has contributed to political action committees aligned with Democratic interests. On the pro-Trump side, billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss supported the campaign heavily, each contributing about $1.1 million. Some of this money was refunded in September due to exceeding statutory contribution limits.
Among the recent donors is Chase Herro, co-founder of World Liberty Financial, Trump’s new cryptocurrency venture. The platform aims to act as a decentralized bank, encouraging users to borrow, lend and invest in cryptocurrencies. Despite launching the token sale with an initial fundraising goal of $300 million, the project has so far sold over $10.2 million in WLFI tokens. The launch ran into technical issues, including a website crash during the sale.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $67,989.
Featured image from France 24, chart from TradingView.com
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