Stand With Crypto Forms Political Action Committee

The nonprofit group Stand With Crypto reportedly formed a political action committee (PAC) to support candidates who are friendly to cryptocurrency and blockchain.

The new PAC aims to raise money from Stand With Crypto’s 440,000 members, Reuters reported Friday (May 10).

“The goal is to endorse candidates and support candidates that are protecting the rights of our advocates of Stand With Crypto throughout November,” Nick Carr, chief strategist at Stand With Crypto, said in the report.

Some crypto-focused super PACs, including Fairshake, Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress, have raised a combined total of $110 million for this election season, per the report.

The crypto sector’s super PACs have become one of the top three fundraisers in the 2024 election cycle, behind only the super PAC backing Ron DeSantis’ failed presidential campaign and the one backing Democratic Senate candidates, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen said in a report released Monday (May 6).

“Out of the six 2024 primaries in which crypto super PACs intervened and which are now over, only one crypto-backed candidate has lost,” Public Citizen said in a press release about the report. “Eleven primary races that include crypto-backed candidates remain. The crypto super PACs have pledged to spend in general election Senate races in the battleground states of Ohio and Montana.”

It was reported in March that crypto-focused super PACs spent at least $13 million on the March 5 Super Tuesday primary contests in Texas, California and Alabama.

“The crypto community is playing politics to win,” Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto said at the time. “We will have influence and impact in races behind candidates who align with our agenda and our vision.”

Cryptocurrency firms have also been spending record amounts of cash to lobby for their cause in Washington.

During the first three quarters of 2023, digital asset companies spent $18.9 million on lobbying — a figure that was up from $16.1 million in 2021, despite the collapse of FTX, which had been one of the biggest spenders when it comes to lobbying.

“Our goal is to engage directly with policymakers, build relationships and bridge the education gap to build a commonsense regulatory framework,” Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said in December.

In September, Stand With Crypto hosted an event in Washington along with 50 crypto founders to advocate for legislative clarity aligned with their own goals.