- A political action committee supporting Donald Trump’s presidential bid has raised about $7.5 million in cryptocurrencies.
- Contributors donated bitcoin, ether, XRP, and the stablecoins tether and USDC to the Trump ’47 joint fundraising committee.
- Major crypto donors include David Bailey of BTC Media, Ripple’s Stuart Alderoty, Craft Ventures’ Brian Murray, and billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
A political action committee supporting Donald Trump‘s presidential bid has raised about $7.5 million in cryptocurrencies since early June, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Donors Give Bitcoin, Ether and Stablecoins
The Trump ’47 joint fundraising committee received donations in bitcoin, ether, XRP, and the stablecoins USDC and tether. The filing covers donations from July 1 through September 30.
With the 2024 election just three weeks away, Trump is hoping for strong financial backing from the crypto community. The former president has positioned himself as the pro-crypto candidate, a reversal from his stance while in office. In May, he became the first major presidential candidate to accept donations in digital tokens.
Nearly half of all corporate money flowing into the election has come from the crypto industry, according to the nonprofit Public Citizen. Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz account for most of the business donations from the industry, which has raised about 13 times more than it did in the previous presidential election year.
Major Donors Include Bitcoin Evangelists
At least 18 donors gave more than $55 million in bitcoin to Trump ’47. Another seven people donated around $15 million in ether.
David Bailey, CEO of media group BTC, gave over $498,000 in bitcoin. Bailey helped convince Trump of bitcoin’s merits, leading to the former president headlining a major bitcoin conference in July. Trump said his campaign had raised $25 million from crypto, though he did not specify the breakdown between digital tokens and dollars.
Among the new donors is Chase Herro, co-founder of the Trump family’s new crypto project World Liberty Financial. The platform launched its token sale on Tuesday, but has so far fallen well short of its $300 million goal.
Other major donors include BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, Craft Ventures partner Brian Murray, Kresus Labs founder Trevor Traina, Chainstone Labs CEO Bruce Fenton, and Cardone Digital Ventures’ Gary Cardone.
Ripple Executives Take Opposing Sides
Ripple legal chief Stuart Alderoty contributed $300,000 in XRP tokens. He attended a Trump fundraiser hosted by pro-Trump venture capitalist David Sacks in June.
However, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen gave $1 million in XRP to a PAC supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. Though Larsen shares some policy positions with Trump on crypto regulation, he believes Harris will be more receptive given her Bay Area ties.
Uniswap legal chief Marvin Ammori also donated to Harris. Like Ripple, Uniswap is fighting claims it violated securities laws.
On the pro-Trump side, the Winklevoss twins have given nearly $11 million each in support of the former president. Some of those donations were refunded in September due to exceeding the legal maximum.
Conclusion
With the election nearing, Trump is hoping donations from crypto backers can boost his campaign funds. However, some in the industry are splintered, with executives from the same companies often supporting opposing candidates. Crypto regulation has become a high-profile issue this election cycle.
