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Activity tagged "crypto lobby"

Posted:

Convicted FTX executive Ryan Salame has filed a document in his case alleging that the US government has reneged on their (verbal) promise not to pursue campaign finance charges against his partner, Michelle Bond.

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Bond was previously under investigation for campaign finance issues pertaining to her 2022 Congressional campaign in New York’s District 1.

In June of this year, she launched a think tank pushing for friendly crypto and AI regulation, and a month ago they launched a program aiming to register pro-crypto voters in swing states.

Salame is requesting that either any indictment of Bond be dismissed with prejudice, or his conviction be vacated. He is due to report to prison to begin his 7 1/2 year sentence later this year.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939/gov.uscourts.nysd.590939.470.0_1.pdf

Posted:

Public Citizen just released a must-read report on the cryptocurrency industry’s spending this election cycle.

Nearly half of all corporate money contributed this cycle has come from cryptocurrency backers!

Key Findings In 2024, crypto corporations have poured over $119 million directly into influencing federal elections, primarily into a non-partisan super PAC dedicated to electing pro-crypto candidates and defeating crypto skeptics. Crypto corporations are by far the dominant corporate political spenders in 2024 as nearly half (48%) of all corporate money contributed during this year’s elections ($248 million so far) came from crypto backers. Koch Industries is a distant second place in 2024. The privately held conglomerate owned by Charles and, formerly, the late David Koch, contributed $25 million to its Koch-controlled Americans for Prosperity Action and $3.25 million toward electing Republicans to Congress. Direct corporate election spending at this scale is unprecedented. Crypto corporations’ total spending in the past three election cycles – $129 million – already amounts to 15% of all known corporate contributions since the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United, which total $884 million. 92% of the corporate crypto spending is from 2024. Since Citizens United, the crypto corporations are now second in total election-related spending, trailing only fossil fuel corporations, which have spent $176 million over the past 14 years, including $73 million from Koch Industries. The crypto sector’s Fairshake PAC and its affiliates have received nearly $114 million directly from corporate backers, far more than any other outside spender this cycle. Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action, a hybrid PAC, is a distant second, having received nearly $26 million, primarily from Koch Industries. Fairshake’s corporate backing is unprecedented. Though unlimited corporate contributions have been enabled since 2010 by Citizens United, this newcomer is already second only to the super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate in terms of corporate money received. That super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, has received nearly $119 million directly from corporations over the past 14 years, largely from fossil fuel corporations but including many other sectors, including crypto, tobacco, and for-profit prisons.
"Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an Unprecedented $119 Million Influencing Elections".
Rick Claypool in Public Citizen.
Posted:

“Instead of finding common ground, industry executives lashed out at White House officials... ‘They basically just got yelled at.’ ”

Feels like they’re laying the groundwork for “regretfully they gave us no choice but to back Trump”.

"Crypto executives clash with Democratic leaders in heated Zoom meeting".
Eleanor Terrett in Fox Business.
Posted:

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal has responded to the news of the FEC complaint by suggesting I have some shadowy backers funding me.

Tweet thread by Paul Grewal (@iampaulgrewal): Seized crypto assets are not Congressionally appropriated funds, period. There is nothing new in the FEC complaint filed by a self-described crypto critic and Public Citizen’s research director, but it is notable that there is no minimum bar to file such a complaint, and this one – filed by individuals with no election law expertise and funded by who exactly? – appears to amount to a press release by another name. 1/4 @coinbase is proud of its hand-in-glove work with federal law enforcement. We remain committed to playing a trusted role for the U.S. Marshals Service’s cryptocurrency services requirement, which is funded by the sale of assets forfeited to the DOJ’s Assets Forfeiture Fund – not congressionally appropriated tax dollars.

He’s also complained that we accused Coinbase of having partisan bias in who they support, something we did not allege or imply. We single out the donation to the Congressional Leadership Fund and not its Democratic equivalent because only the former happened within the prohibited period.

Tweet thread by Paul Grewal (@iampaulgrewal): Seized crypto assets are not Congressionally appropriated funds, period. There is nothing new in the FEC complaint filed by a self-described crypto critic and Public Citizen’s research director, but it is notable that there is no minimum bar to file such a complaint, and this one – filed by individuals with no election law expertise and funded by who exactly? – appears to amount to a press release by another name. 1/4 @coinbase is proud of its hand-in-glove work with federal law enforcement. We remain committed to playing a trusted role for the U.S. Marshals Service’s cryptocurrency services requirement, which is funded by the sale of assets forfeited to the DOJ’s Assets Forfeiture Fund – not congressionally appropriated tax dollars. 2/4 It’s also worth noting that Coinbase has donated to Dem and GOP super PACs equally with $500K to House and Senate funds for each party, respectively, for 2024. White and Public Citizen appear to want to report a political bias which does not exist. 3/4 Very simply, the world view these researchers espouse in this document is not the law, as much as they wish it was. 4/4

These are the contributions at issue. Those highlighted in yellow were made during the prohibited time period (March 4, 2024–present).

The blue ones are the ones he claims to be upset we didn’t mention. They were made more than two months before the US Marshals published the contract that Coinbase would later apply for and win.

Individual contributions Viewing 11 filtered results for: "coinbase"<brContributor name Recipient State Employer Receipt date Amount [begin yellow highlight] COINBASE FAIRSHAKE CA 05/30/2024 $24,999,995.00 COINBASE, INC. COINBASE, INC. INNOVATION PAC (COINBASE INNOVATION PAC) CA 05/03/2024 $100.00 COINBASE CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND CA 03/20/2024 $500,000.00 [end yellow highlight] [begin blue highlight]  COINBASE INC. SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND CA 12/22/2023 $500,000.00 [end blue highlight] COINBASE PROTECT PROGRESS CA 12/22/2023 $1,500,000.00 [begin blue highlight]  COINBASE, INC. SMP CA 12/22/2023 $500,000.00 [end blue highlight]  COINBASE INC DEFEND AMERICAN JOBS CA 12/22/2023 $1,500,000.00 COINBASE, INC. COINBASE, INC. INNOVATION PAC (COINBASE INNOVATION PAC) CA 12/20/2023 $50.01 [begin blue highlight]  COINBASE, INC. HMP CA 12/20/2023 $500,000.00 [end blue highlight] COINBASE FAIRSHAKE CA 12/20/2023 $15,500,000.00 COINBASE FAIRSHAKE CA 11/03/2023 $5,000,000.00 " />

(Note: that third, $100 contribution highlighted in yellow seems to be a permitted contribution made by an individual employee that has just been misattributed to Coinbase in the FEC data).