US: Crypto Sector Election Contributions Surge In 2024

A new report by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has shown that nearly half of all corporate election contributions in 2024 have come from the crypto sector.

• Axios notes: “Blockchain companies have supplied 48% of the $248 million of corporate money donated to influence federal elections this cycle,” according to Public Citizen.
• Axios adds: “Fairshake, the crypto industry's dominant PAC, has raised a whopping $202 million. The group has endorsed equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans in House races this year.”
• Rick Claypool, a research director at Public Citizen and author of the report, said: “…the sole reason crypto is a hot-button topic in this election cycle is that crypto businesses are spending eye-popping sums to make themselves impossible to ignore.”
• Quartz notes on the report: “Since the [2010] Citizens United ruling, crypto corporations have become the second-largest election-related corporate spenders, following only fossil fuel companies... Over the past 14 years, fossil fuel corporations have spent $176 million, with Koch Industries contributing $73 million.”

Figure 2: Contributions from Corporations to Influence Federal Elections since Citizens United (2010 Supreme Court ruling to remove restrictions on corporate political spending)

Source: Axios