The super PAC, which is funded by some of the most powerful companies in the cryptocurrency industry, has raised $85 million. Now the organization has begun deploying this money against political candidates across the country.
According to a recent Federal Election Commission filing, political action committee (PAC) Fairshake received funding primarily from cryptocurrency giants Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ripple Labs. is receiving funding. filing.
While these companies and their leaders have each pledged tens of millions of dollars to the organization, cryptocurrency companies and their founders, including ARK Invest, Solana Labs, Bitwise, and Jump Crypto, have also made significant donations to Fairshake. These include Multicoin Capital, Paradigm, and the Winklevoss brothers.
On Monday, Fairshake began throwing millions of dollars at a barrage of negative ads aimed at Katie Porter, a Democratic state representative from Orange County who is currently in a four-way race for an open California Senate seat. A Fairshake representative confirmed: decryption The PAC has spent $2.9 million on anti-Porter ads since yesterday.
What do cryptocurrencies have over Porter? The lawmaker is certainly not one of the industry’s most visible foes in Washington, and has rarely drawn the ire of outspoken cryptocurrency critics such as Democratic senators. elizabeth warren and Sherrod Brown.
But Porter repeatedly allied herself on a series of issues with Warren, who taught her at Harvard Law School. approval Her Senate seat ran a year ago.
Moreover, Porter’s Senate race rival and fellow Democrat, Los Angeles Congressman Adam Schiff, has explicitly called for a cryptocurrency regulatory framework for his policies. campaign website—To sustain and grow the Web3 and blockchain industry in California, he said. Porter’s campaign site makes no mention of cryptocurrency.
Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Fairshake’s targeting of Porter. A Coinbase representative pointed out the company’s recent situation. blog post This is about Fairshake, which highlights the urgent need to support Americans who own digital assets and are dissatisfied with the current state of the US financial system.
Interestingly, the anti-Porter ad released by Fairshake in California has so far avoided any discussion of cryptocurrency. Ironically, the group’s first ad seeks to portray female lawmakers as in the pockets of special interest groups.
“Katie Porter speaks differently and acts differently,” a Fairshake spokeswoman said. decryption. “Despite her claims, Porter has taken campaign contributions from big banks, big pharmaceutical companies, big oil companies, and her Super PAC is spending huge sums to mislead Californians about her own record. .”
Porter’s campaign saw things differently and emphasized the candidate’s lack of hostility toward the cryptocurrency industry.
“Katy believes in free markets and that consumer protection goes well with financial innovation. But that is not what this means.” Porter campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Reilly said in her statement. decryption. “This is about billionaires and special interest corporations using misinformation to rig elections. “California voters will see through this misleading plan ahead of the March primary.”
According to recent reports, Adam Schiff is currently leading among California Senate candidates with 25% support. vote Administered by USC, Cal Poly Pomona, and CSU Long Beach.
It is reported that Porter and retired Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey (Republican) are in second place with 15% each. The two Senate candidates who received the most votes in the March 5 primary will face off in the November general election.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
