Comments | How the crypto industry took the 2024 election

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris differ on everything from tariffs to abortion. However both have made their support for crypto part of their platforms.

Trump, who thought that cryptocurrency “seems like a scam,” now says that, if elected, he will turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet” and make it a “bitcoin superpower.” He promises to fire Gary Gensler, the current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who destroyed the emerging industry and sued many crypto companies and executives. of violating American law.

While Harris has not backed his sponsorship, he has also emphasized his support for the industry. He says his administration, if it happens, will “promote new technologies like AI and digital assets.” And he told the big funders that he would ensure a “safer business environment” for investors.

Why is so much attention given to this matter? The industry and its supporters like to refer to it as “crypto voters.” But while it is not correct to say that no one likes crypto, there is certainly no public reason for it. Less than 1 in 5 Americans have ever owned or traded cryptocurrency. When voters are asked about their views on cryptocurrency, they are more likely to be negative, saying they don’t trust it. Even for young people, who have insufficient access to crypto-currency, crypto-currency is not among their top 20 topics..

Therefore, the answer must lie elsewhere. It’s hardly a coincidence that the cryptocurrency industry has emerged out of nowhere to emerge as the largest donor to federal elections during the 2024 election. How else can you explain that Orwellian industry called super PAC Fairshake pours millions into supporting popular candidates of both parties and attacking those it wants to lose? Earlier this year, the industry successfully targeted Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Katie Porter in their House and Senate elections, respectively.

Recently, the industry has poured money into Ohio’s Senate race, slamming Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown. In Southern California, millions of cryptocurrency support Republican Reps Michelle Steel, Mike Garcia and Young Kim – highly competitive races that could be key for Democrats to regain control of the House.

In other words, industry-sponsored ads have nothing to do with, you know, crypto. Those targeting Bowman and Porter accused the former of not being tough on crime and the latter of hypocrisy in (surprisingly) campaign finance. Anti-brown ads accuse him of immigration, while promoting his opponent, crypto-friendly Republican Bernie Moreno as a family friend of Big Oil.

As of June 30, crypto institutions spent $119 million, mostly through Fairshake. That’s nearly half of all corporate spending in the 2024 campaigns so far, and ahead of other industries like Big Oil. What prompted the industry to increase its spending? In other words, the law.

“The US has proven to be one of the strongest opponents of punishment and legal action against crypto companies,” CNBC reported at the end of 2023. Leading the way were the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission. Other big names in the industry have been arrested: In March, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud. Last year, Changpeng Zhao and his crypto exchange Binance pleaded guilty to financial violations and fines and agreed to pay more than $4 billion in fines. Under Gensler, the SEC brought more than 100 enforcement actions against the sector.

Crypto advocates, surprisingly, are not happy about this. They favor a bill that would see digital currency heavily regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is small and financial, greatly reducing the SEC’s power in that area. Industrialists and billionaire investors alike still want to see Gensler vindicated. Last month, businessman Mark Cuban, a prominent supporter of Harris, even suggested that he take over. Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently told Bloomberg TV, “Gary Gensler’s reign of terror in the crypto industry will end soon.” (Ripple, it won’t surprise you to know, is in an ongoing multi-year battle with the SEC over, yes, whether it should have registered its XRP token as a security.)

The crypto industry promotes its products as a way for those with limited funds to get a piece of the action. But the true believers who peddle this crazy line don’t bother to explain why they shouldn’t invest in the stock market. Likewise, to this day, no one has made a case for the use of cryptocurrency that makes any sense for the average conservative investor or voter. It is not an inflation hedge. Its value varies too much to be used as a substitute for money. Fraud is rampant in the area. For all the great announcements that crypto can revolutionize finance, the only thing it has facilitated so far is the greater ease of money laundering and other illegal behavior. It is used by a collection of international villains, including China’s fentanyl producers and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

However, in the big money sweepstakes that is America’s system of legalized corruption, respectfully called campaign finance, none of this seems to matter. Instead, the crypto industry’s generous donations also show that Americans have the best politics money can buy.