Crypto Industry Flexes Lobbying Muscle in US Politics

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, said New Yorkers should support the cryptocurrency market, CNBC reported Tuesday (May 17) — though reports have him benefiting tremendously from crypto donors.

This all comes as crypto investors are seeing more political activity than before. In a March op-ed in the New York Daily News, titled “A liberal case for cryptocurrency,” Torres said there’s likely not going to be a world without crypto any time soon.

“With a multi-billion dollar market capitalization, crypto is here to stay,” he wrote. “It’s not going anywhere. New York City should and must embrace crypto if it is to remain the financial capital of the world.”

That said, Torres didn’t mention the fact that industry backers threw two fundraisers for him in April, with crypto investors Ben Horowitz, Anthony Albanese and Chris Dixon, all leaders at Andreessen Horowitz, hosting a “Ritchie Torres Ethereum Fundraiser” at the “swanky” private nightclub Zero Bond in New York City on April 13, according to CNBC.

The invites reportedly said the event would contain cocktails and conversation, and donors were asked to contribute up to $5,800. Another invite said donors could contribute in ether, which is currently trading around $2,000, per the report.

There have been at least two new political action committees (PACs) formed by crypto investors in 2022 so far, both seeding tens of millions of dollars toward helping crypto-friendly lawmakers get elected. One of them, Protect Our Future — which has endorsed Torres — has raised $14 million and could help tip the scales for elections in Ohio and Oregon.

In other crypto investing news, PYMNTS wrote that Coinshift, a crypto treasury management company, received $15 million in a Series A round, with plans to roll out a new version of its platform.

Read more: Crypto Treasury Management Firm Coinshift Raises $15M

The company, which debuted in 2021, manages over 1,000 crypto safes, $1.3 billion in assets and $80 million in payouts for various organizations.

“Today, a new chapter of the Coinshift journey begins,” founder and CEO Tarun Gupta said. “We are unveiling a glimpse into our platform’s second version, through which we share our vision to build the most sophisticated multichain treasury infrastructure for Web3.”