Super Tuesday: The first real test for crypto in the 2024 election cycle

The crypto industry is looking to influence Super Tuesday elections, FOX Business has learned.

Players in the $2.5 trillion digital asset space are using their voices and wallets to bolster a handful of pro-crypto candidates as voters across 16 states and American Samoa head to ballot boxes on Tuesday to make their voices heard in the pivotal primary elections.

Fairshake, an independent super PAC funded by crypto firms like Coinbase, Ripple and crypto-centric venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has raised over $90 million in the first quarter of 2024 to support various pro-crypto candidates, including progressive California Rep. Adam Schiff, new Alabama congressional Democratic candidate Shomari Figures and Democratic Texas state Rep. Julie Johnson.

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Coinbase, the U.S.’s biggest crypto exchange, has donated $24 million to Fairshake as the company has cemented itself as a vociferous advocate of fair digital asset policy in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Stand with Crypto, a nonprofit grassroots advocacy group with over 300,000 members that Coinbase helped start, will hold its first-ever pro-crypto rally on Monday that will include appearances from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and rapper Nas. The event will act as a curtain raiser for a key battle for the California Senate seat of the late Dianne Feinstein, who served as the state’s Democratic senator for more than 30 years until her death in September.

Coinbase tells FOX Business it views Super Tuesday as the first real test for crypto in the 2024 election cycle.

“Our goal is to bring people into the policy process and give them a platform to support the industry with their vote,” Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad told FOX Business. “Super Tuesday will be the first opportunity to stand up in favor of crypto and make sure it’s part of our future.”

Feinstein’s open seat currently has four contenders, and the two frontrunners have very different views on crypto.

One is Schiff, who represents California’s 30th Congressional District and has come out in support of fair regulation for the digital asset industry. On his website, Schiff highlights the importance for the sector to be able to grow and innovate and continue to provide jobs for Californians. Schiff has an “A” rating on Stand with Crypto’s website, which indicates he is a strong supporter of the industry.

Rep. Adam Schiff speaks to supporters outside the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Union Hall on Feb. 11, 2023, in Burbank, California. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

By contrast, Schiff’s opponent, Katie Porter, has an “F” rating for her criticism of the energy use of the crypto mining sector as well as her close ties to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, an anti-crypto crusader.

Rep. Katie Porter speaks to members of the media during a campaign event on Feb. 24, 2024, in Emeryville, California. (Josh Edelson / Getty Images)

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Porter, who represents California’s 47th Congressional District, is considered a Warren protégé after she took the senator’s bankruptcy law class at Harvard. Porter also backed Warren when she launched an investigation into the implications of the energy usage of bitcoin miners in Texas in 2022.

The crypto industry is concerned that if Porter wins Feinstein’s empty seat, Warren will gain another anti-crypto ally in Washington.

That worry has led crypto’s biggest super PAC, Fairshake, to launch a $10 million multi-platform ad campaign attacking Porter in the hopes of winning over pro-crypto voters planning to give her their votes. 

According to Fairshake, California is home to 8 million crypto owners. 

Fairshake and Stand with Crypto are also focusing on races in Alabama and Texas, where Democratic candidates Shomari Figures and Julie Johnson have pledged to embrace the burgeoning crypto industry that has been making headlines as the price of bitcoin continues to soar.

The world’s largest digital asset is edging closer to its all-time high of nearly $69,000, which it reached in November 2021 at the height of the industry’s last bull run before it came crashing down below $16,000 in the so-called “crypto winter” in 2022. Bitcoin’s rally is extending to other digital assets like ethereum and cardano. 

Another race the crypto industry is keeping a close eye on is the battle for Warren’s Massachusetts Senate seat, which is being challenged by pro-crypto attorney and Marine veteran John Deaton.

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Republican challenger John Deaton (Getty Images)

Deaton has an uphill journey in defeating Warren, the 13-year Democratic incumbent, who has become infamous in the crypto world for her hostile rhetoric toward the industry as well as her anti-crypto legislation in Washington.

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He has gained the respect and adoration of the crypto industry following his pro bono work representing holders of the XRP token in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against crypto firm Ripple.

While the race for Warren’s seat has not yet received nods from Stand With Crypto or Fairshake, industry billionaires like Charles Hoskinson, founder of the Cardano blockchain and a founder of the world’s No. 2 blockchain ethereum, have publicly come out in support of Deaton and are donating personally to his campaign.

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“I’m supporting John against Warren because we need people willing to take on the establishment against banks writing our laws and destroying the crypto industry,” Hoskinson told FOX Business.

Hoskinson donated $3,300 to Deaton’s campaign, the maximum amount allowed for individuals, over the weekend.