Fairshake PAC: Is the Cryptocurrency Industry's Political Power Growing?
The money bolsters the coffers of the industry's Fairshake political action committee (PAC) and affiliated PACs. These committees scour state primaries to find congressional candidates who leave their political platforms open to pro-crypto positions. The committees have deluged some little-known politicians with millions of dollars in unregistered endorsements. Such super PACs often buy advertising for or against candidates, but are prohibited from making any official affiliation with the candidates' campaigns.
“We are deeply involved in policy work when it comes to our mission to increase economic freedom by increasing the adoption of cryptocurrencies,” Coinbase said in its company statement. “The House of Representatives and the Senate, among other things, help determine which crypto laws are passed, so increasing the number of pro-crypto members is critical.”
US regulations remain a major hurdle for the industry to overcome to gain more meaningful global acceptance. This could mean many more mainstream investors and users adopting the technology. Members of the U.S. legislature have been showing recent signs of shifting toward broader acceptance of cryptocurrencies, and the upcoming congressional session could see all of this come to a head in a legislation setting the rules of the road for digital assets.
Super PACs allow companies to pour unlimited cash into swaying elections, and the cryptocurrency industry’s stockpile of campaign funds now rivals the scale of the massive war chests that political parties have amassed to distribute in House and Senate races. Digital asset businesses are also competing with the historically most politicized and deep-pocketed industries. But Fairshake’s actual management and strategies — including its ongoing level of engagement with the donors who support it — are opaque, as its main backers refuse to answer management questions and the PAC’s organizers will not comment on such details.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who has run the House GOP’s campaign operations in the past, rejected narratives implying cryptocurrency PACs are trying to buy Congress.
“This is no different than the healthcare industry; this is no different than the airline industry,” he told the crowd gathered at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2024 in Texas last week. “It’s all this: I want to know you. I will invest in you because I want to see you elected, because your views are compatible with my views.”
Among the largest individual corporate donors ranked by OpenSecrets.org, all three companies could make it into the top five: Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z. Unless corporations, among other major political donors, make similar short-term additions that would exceed their spending.
Compared to $161 million spent for cryptocurrency purposes, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a conservative PAC affiliated with House Speaker Mike Johnson, had raised $84 million in the latest filings two months ago, and the Senate Leadership Fund, the equivalent of Republican efforts in the Senate, had raised $64 million. he had collected. The House Majority PAC, which aims to put Democrats in the House of Representatives, said it plans to spend $186 million on advertising this year, but Federal Election Commission records show only $86 million in donations so far.
While Fairshake has already spent tens of millions of dollars on targeted races, his fundraising level would theoretically allow him to spend more than $300,000 on the 468 House and Senate seats each contested in the Nov. 5 general election.
This makes it clear that the cryptocurrency industry is increasingly trying to exert influence in US politics and support candidates who will be positive about regulations. However, concerns about the transparency of super PACs and the secrecy of Fairshake’s relationships with its donors raise questions about whether these campaign spending are ethical.
