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Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

reuters.com

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Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#71

Post by muglug »

WinstonSmith84 wrote: post #64

Looks a little bit sensational and .. very much misleading 1- The largest donor, a16z is certainly invested in Crypto, but that's a venture capital firm, not crypto firm. 2- Fairshake PAC is basically a Crypto PAC, so it's obvious that Crypto firms are funding that PAC, right. I quote Wikipedia: > Fairshake is a Super PAC funded by the cryptocurrency industry that supported pro-cryptocurrency candidates in the 2024 U…

> That PAC doesn't look like they are ideologically oriented, they just care about whether a candidate is pro crypto or not

Surely the more disturbing thing is that they're spending money at all.

In the olden days a CEO would ring up a politician and say something like "if you vote for this bill, my 50,000 employees in your state will not be happy" — a sizable voting bloc gave those execs power.

Now the crypto companies say "if you vote for this bill, my 1,000 employees in your state will not be happy..." — less compelling, voting-bloc wise — "...and also I will donate millions to your opponent in the primary"

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#73

Post by [deleted] »

paulpauper wrote: post #7

As far as the US is concerned, given how badly bitcoin has done since Trump was inaugurated, the worst performing asset class by far, I would say the ROI has been pretty bad. Industries and sectors that donated nothing still got bailouts and other initiatives, such as AI, quantum, metals, and semiconductors. Noting for crypto donors. No bailouts, or even mentions on twitter. Politicians can take money but they don't…

[deleted]

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#74

Post by carlob »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #68
bhouston wrote: post #4

The fact that political spending is considered free speech in the US gives the rich and already powerful massive sway in the political system, it is basically tiled hard towards them. And then combined with how PACs hide their funding behind names like "Everyday Americans Making the World Better" when really it just wants to lessen online gambling laws for a billion dollar company, is just brutal. US politics is a dy…

The decision to allow unlimited political donations in 2010 was certainly one of the worst decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. Care to guess who was behind it? Roberts, Thomas, and Alito. The same corrupt assholes who continue to fuck this country every single time they get the opportunity.

And who is the kingmaker behind those three?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Leo

Look him up and his connections to Opus Dei.

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#75

Post by mothballed »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #66
mothballed wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not hard to figure out, the fascists have been more explicitly welcoming to crypto freedom or at least put themselves out there to solicit that vote even if you claim their underlying policies aren't. Trump offered the freedom of Ross Ulbricht at the libertarian convention, did Kamala come to the libertarian convention and offer anything?

If you back fascists to promote crypto, your values are fucked.

It's no wonder the fascists won the "libertarian" crypto vote when the message you and sister have for the comments as your campaign slogan to those voters is "your values are fucked" and "at least we're not the guy who showed up and offered you something."

Did you think "your values are fucked" is actually persuasive at garnering votes?

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#76

Post by saulapremium »

TFNA wrote: post #62
kg wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may make you uncomfortable to learn this but fascists - actual ones - are currently active in politics! My hair isn't dyed, for what it's worth. We could argue over the definition of fascism and which politicians fit it which might be more productive than accusing posters of being depressed.

Fascism is a political phenomenon of the early twentieth century. There are no current politicians who are operating in the early twentieth century. So, to speak of “currently active fascists” is anachronistic. Typically at some point in the discussion someone will cite Umberto Eco’s definition of fascism, but other people do not have to accept his extension of the term past its sell-by date. For the people currently…

With that line of thinking, you can attribute any ideology to a time period and declare it invalid today.

Professor Jason Stanley who has written two books about the topic calls the current US administration fascist. Similar with professor Timothy Snyder and I think several other respected historians.

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#77

Post by actionfromafar »

khriss wrote: post #65

And as if to sprinkle salt on the wounds, the Supreme court today allowed unlimited spending by political parties 'in coordination with allied interests(read the money class)' https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48734220 Moneyed interests have always jockeyed for power, but earlier they were held somewhat in check by Congress which had to listen somewhat to voters. With Citizens united in 2010 and corporate media dr…

The 1% are just along for the ride, having a good time. The 0.001% are calling the shots now.

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#78

Post by actionfromafar »

lostlogin wrote: post #40
khurs wrote: post #3

A UK party rising up the charts is caught up in a scandal - crypto guy gave the party leader (personally) £5m which he failed to declare and he started the party a few days later indicating he was paid to start the party. It came out when Crypto guy gave an interview and mentioned it not realising the consequences. The party leader first claimed it was for security. Then it was determined he had bought property with…

Crypto money makes a change from Russian bribes. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6xwy015ngo https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58711151 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/dec/04/lord-evans-...

Explain again how crypto money is not Russian bribes?

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#79

Post by Cider9986 »

nyeah wrote: post #72
Cider9986 wrote: post #61

It can't be worse than the banks. It's a shame the crypto industry is so scummy it makes people avoid real improvements on the monetary system made by Monero.

We know that it is much, much worse than the banks.

From a privacy and freedom perspective, crypto in general is a big improvement on banks. Monero is the perfected implementation of cryptocurrency.

Banks hold your funds, lock you out of accounts, file reports on you, share every transaction with the government, scam you in interest, ask you what your using your money for, require invasive services to use their apps, require invasive biometrics, hoard your identity data and sell it, target ads to you, close your account if you're deemed to be high risk, implement atrocious security.

Re: Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

#80

Post by pjc50 »

mothballed wrote: post #10
stanleykm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why all the libertarian freedom loving crypto guys keep backing fascists

It's not hard to figure out, the fascists have been more explicitly welcoming to crypto freedom or at least put themselves out there to solicit that vote even if you claim their underlying policies aren't. Trump offered the freedom of Ross Ulbricht at the libertarian convention, did Kamala come to the libertarian convention and offer anything?

> Trump offered the freedom of Ross Ulbricht at the libertarian convention

Libertarianism is when you can buy your way out of criminal convictions?

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