At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, amid a sea of American flags and ubiquitous blue signs, “crypto guy” Jonathan Padilla roamed the streets.
Padilla, wearing a baseball cap and a shirt with a bold pineapple print, wandered the floor of the convention, talking about crypto policy to anyone who would listen. In a selfie posted to Facebook, he has his arm around Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, with the caption, “Senator Coons Now Knows About Crypto.”
Padilla is happy with his new nickname “The Crypto Guy” given to him by his fellow delegates at the Democratic National Convention, which he sees as a tacit acknowledgment that crypto has moved onto the political agenda. “Four years ago, crypto wasn’t an issue, nobody was talking about it,” Padilla says. “But now we have President Trump talking about it at major conferences, and the highest-ranking Democrats are discussing it.”
Padilla, founder of crypto marketing firm Snickerdoodle Labs and former blockchain whisperer at PayPal, is also one of the organizers of Crypto4Harris, a coalition of Democratic-leaning members of the crypto industry. According to Padilla, the coalition’s goal is to encourage Kamala Harris to support crypto-specific legislation and show that the sector is “not a monolithic Republican Party.”
On August 14, Crypto4Harris hosted a virtual town hall attended by prominent Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said he “believes in the future of cryptocurrency.” The group has also “made progress” with “finance and policy folks” within the Harris campaign, Padilla claims.
The group’s access to Harris Team reflects a larger shift in attitudes toward crypto among U.S. politicians, who seem to have acknowledged that there is a segment of voters who will vote solely on which candidate will send their money to the moon (forget immigration, healthcare, etc.), not to mention the large amounts of money being donated by crypto-related companies.
Crypto companies, fueled by the cryptocurrency price surge in 2024, are investing “unprecedented” amounts of money to influence the outcome of this year’s U.S. election, according to an analysis by consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen. Despite being relatively small in terms of revenue and a continued lack of use cases outside of financial speculation, crypto companies accounted for 48% of all corporate donations this election cycle.
The crypto industry poured money into the 2020 election campaign, but there’s new urgency and aggressiveness in its attempts to interfere in the 2024 election. “The industry views this election as existential,” Veronica McGregor, chief legal officer at crypto wallet company Exodus, said in her personal capacity as an industry veteran. “No matter who’s in power, change is needed for the industry to thrive as it should.”
The majority of political donations from the cryptocurrency industry are made through three affiliated super-political action committees (PACs): Fairshake, Protect Progress, and Defend American Jobs. These organizations cannot donate directly to political candidates, but are free to spend their money promoting candidates who make the right arguments for cryptocurrency.
Under the Biden administration, crypto companies are being cracked down on and dragged to court by US financial regulators, which they see as extremely unfair. However, through their super PAC, they want to put into office politicians who will support a tailored crypto bill that would put an end to the debate over how cryptocurrencies should be classified and which regulatory rules should apply to them.
FairShake, the largest of these super PACs, has raised more than $200 million — more than any other super PAC, crypto-specific or otherwise. Its major donors include crypto companies Coinbase and Ripple, pro-crypto venture capital firm a16z, and an investment firm started by crypto exchange Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
Coinbase, FairShake’s largest donor, which has donated $45 million, has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint, filed jointly by Public Citizen and software developer Molly White, founder of Follow the Crypto, a project that tracks cryptocurrency industry donations, alleges that Coinbase violated campaign finance laws by donating to FairShake during negotiations to become a federal contractor.
Coinbase declined a request for an interview, instead pointing to public comments in which Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal challenged the company’s characterization as a federal contractor on the grounds that the services it provides aren’t technically funded with tax revenue. “It looks to us like Coinbase is trying to find loopholes that don’t actually exist,” White said.
