Jonathan Padilla, the self-proclaimed “crypto guy,” prowled among the sea of American flags and omnipresent blue placards at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago held in August of this year.
Donning a baseball cap and an eye-catching pineapple-print shirt, Padilla strolled through the convention halls, engaging in conversations with everyone who would listen about cryptocurrency legislation. He stood with his arm around Delaware Senator Chris Coons in a selfie that was shared on Facebook. The caption reads, “Senator Coons now knows about crypto.”
Since other DNC delegates gave him the nickname “crypto guy,” Padilla is happy to have it, viewing it as an implicit acknowledgement that Bitcoin has made an appearance on the political scene.
Padilla said, “Four years ago, crypto was a nonissue and nobody talked about it. But now, you have President Donald Trump talking about it at major conferences. And it’s being discussed by some of the highest-ranking Democrats.”
Padilla was the resident blockchain whisperer at PayPal before founding the cryptocurrency marketing firm Snickerdoodle Labs. Additionally, he is one of the leaders of the alliance known as Crypto4Harris, which unites pro-Democratic individuals of the cryptocurrency sector in an effort to persuade Kamala Harris to back legislation about the industry and show that it “is not monolithically Republican.”
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, one of the notable Democrats who attended the August 14 virtual town hall held by Crypto4Harris, stated that he “believed in the future of crypto.”
Additionally, according to Padilla, the group has “made headway” with “finance and policy folks” within the Harris administration.
The group’s access to the Harris team is indicative of a radical shift in US politicians’ views on cryptocurrencies, as they now appear to acknowledge the existence of a voting bloc that will choose a candidate solely on the basis of who will send their investments to space. Not to mention the large donations that cryptocurrency companies are making.
According to a report by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, cryptocurrency companies have made “unprecedented” investments to influence the US election this year, following a surge in cryptocurrency values in 2024.
Crypto companies are responsible for 48% of all corporate contributions this election season, despite their relatively small revenue base and the persistent lack of use cases outside of financial speculation.
The 2020 contest received financial support from the cryptocurrency industry. But its desire to intervene in the 2024 campaign has a newfound urgency and vigour.
During an interaction with WIRED, Veronica McGregor, chief legal officer at crypto wallet company Exodus, said, “The industry believes this election is existential. No matter who gets into office, changes need to happen for our industry to thrive like it should.”
Defend American Jobs, Fairshake, and Protect Progress are the three connected mega political action committees (PACs) that get the lion’s share of political contributions from the cryptocurrency business. These groups are unable to actively support political candidates with donations, but they are free to spend money endorsing individuals who make the appropriate corny noises regarding cryptocurrency.
US financial regulators have roughed up and brought cryptocurrency startups into court under the Biden administration, which they consider to be incredibly unfair. However, by using super PACs, the cryptocurrency industry hopes to elect lawmakers who would back specialised crypto legislation, putting an end to the dispute over which regulator’s regulations should be applied and how cryptocurrency should be classed.
More than $200 million has been raised by Fairshake, the biggest of these super PACs; this amount exceeds that of any other super PAC, cryptocurrency-specific or not. The cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple, the pro-crypto venture capital firm a16z, and the investment firm founded by Gemini’s founders, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, are among its principal backers.
The Federal Election Commission has received a formal complaint against Coinbase, the biggest Fairshake donor with $45 million given to the pot. The case, filed jointly by Public Citizen and software engineer Molly White—who is the brains behind the website Follow the Crypto, which tracks donations made to the cryptocurrency industry—claims that Coinbase broke campaign finance regulations by making payments to Fairshake while attempting to secure a contract to work as a federal contractor.
Coinbase turned down a request for an interview, citing instead remarks made in public by Paul Grewal, the company’s chief legal officer, who disputed the company’s designation as a federal contractor on the grounds that the service it offers isn’t backed by tax money.
“To us, it looks like Coinbase is trying to find a loophole that doesn’t really exist. The crypto industry has been historically very willing to ignore laws they don’t like, and it would be nice to see some consequences for that. I don’t like watching any big companies or very wealthy executives throwing money around in ways that most voters are not able to do. I’m just hoping to see that the spending is at least within the law,” White said.
Whether Coinbase should face penalties will now be decided by the FEC. Meanwhile, the super PACs focused on cryptocurrency are effectively using their funds to target disbelievers in the field. $10 million was spent by Fairshake on advertisements criticising Democratic senatorial candidate Katie Porter in California, who ultimately lost her primary.
Democratic members of Congress Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, whom Fairshake spent a total of $3.5 million discrediting, suffered the same fate in their respective primaries. Crypto was not mentioned in any of the antagonistic advertisements.
Fairshake refuses to comment on its approach in public, but the candidates it opposes have something in common: either they have a strong stance against cryptocurrency, such as Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, one of the industry’s favourite cartoon villains, or they have not cast a ballot.
Porter and Warren began looking into how cryptocurrency mining affected the Texas electricity system in 2022. A crypto measure that would have clarified the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction—a US financial authority that has filed numerous cases against cryptocurrency companies under the Biden administration, including Coinbase—was voted down by Porter, Bowman, and Bush in May.
Leaders in the sector have so far sided with the Trump campaign: Jesse Powell, cofounder of the Kraken exchange, and the Winklevii both contributed $1 million to Trump. The founders of a16z, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, have likewise openly supported Trump.
For his part, Trump has started promoting himself as the “crypto president,” even though he had earlier called Bitcoin a “scam.” At a gathering in July in Nashville, Tennessee, where he addressed thousands of supporters of Bitcoin, President Trump pledged to create a national “Bitcoin stockpile” and make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” if reelected. Trump’s vow to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler ignited the loudest applause of the evening.
“There is a lot of anger and frustration with the fact that we in the industry often don’t know what to do. We think we are complying, then the SEC or another agency sues. We are serving a bunch of different masters. That’s not how regulation is supposed to be done,” McGregor noted.
Organisations such as Crypto4Harris are advocating for a “reset” within the Harris campaign to challenge the belief that Trump is the only reasonable choice for crypto enthusiasts.
“People are angry. People are concerned. But I think if you have the reset we are talking about with the Harris campaign, you’re in a really good spot to have temperatures simmer down,” Padilla said.
In contrast to her Republican competitor, Harris has not revealed many details about herself. Also, 2024’s Democratic platform made no mention of cryptocurrency. However, Harris’s adviser just offered the first hint that the vice president might be thinking about making a request.
While talking to Bloomberg, the adviser said, “She’s going to support policies that ensure that emerging technologies and that sort of industry can continue to grow.”
For various reasons, the crypto industry’s proponents and opponents have concluded that the 2024 election is “existential.” The Trump-supporting camp thinks that any mention of a “reset” is misleading and that a Harris administration would simply be a continuation of the disastrous Biden years.
Cameron Winklevoss, tagging Harris, commented on X, “We will not fall for any bluffs.”
The crypto-Democrats, on the other hand, regard Trump’s ecstatic courting of the sector as overt electioneering.
“You have to ask yourself: Is Donald Trump somebody you actually trust? Donald Trump is the only presidential candidate who has ever claimed that cryptocurrencies are a scam,” Padilla pointed out.
The future of cryptocurrency
The first nation to retain Bitcoin in its national reserve is not the United States. El Salvador had already done so four years prior, but regrettably, their acquisition had only served as a pretext for a subsequent market collapse.
The United States’ enormous Bitcoin holdings may help to stabilise and protect the cryptocurrency from sharp fluctuations. Alternatively, it might bring down the biggest economy in the world. Time will tell.
Regarding the industry’s future during his second term as president (assuming that occurs), Donald Trump has already stated his position clearly. Additionally, the Republicans have profited from the position in terms of raising money for elections.
However, Kamala Harris also wants to mend her party’s connection with the players of virtual currency. Her position on the subject, nevertheless, has been silent up until now. On the other hand, the industry might not see her selection of Senator Gary Peters as her running mate favourably.
In 2024, the crypto sector has undoubtedly become a political force of some kind. Republicans and Democrats will be thrilled to have the cryptocurrency players on their side when it comes to raising money for their campaigns, even though there are other significant economic concerns that Americans will vote on instead of the virtual currency.