Coinbase to give another $25M to Fairshake in 2025

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase plans to give another $25 million to pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake in 2025 to support its efforts in the next election cycle, the company announced Wednesday.

The announcement comes less than a week before the 2024 election, a decision that Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, said was intentional.

“From when we initially launched our political effort, I think we committed ourselves to be in it for the long haul,” Shirzad told The Hill. “As the Election Day was coming along, we thought it was important to reiterate our commitment to be in the fight for the next election cycle and beyond.”

Coinbase also plans to help boost membership in Stand With Crypto, the pro-crypto nonprofit it helped launch last year, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the exchange said.

It hopes to more than double the number of advocates working with the group from 1.8 million to 4 million.

“I think the timing is really to demonstrate that crypto is here to stay, that crypto is committed to engaging, regardless of who wins the majority this year or the presidency this year," said Kara Calvert, Coinbase's head of U.S. policy.

Coinbase donated $70.5 million to the super PAC in the 2023-2024 cycle, campaign finance records show. It is one of the super PAC’s biggest contributors, alongside crypto firm Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Digital assets, like crypto, have taken on a more prominent role in the 2024 race, with both former President Trump and Vice President Harris campaigning on the issue, although to different extents.

“We feel very good about the impact that we've had to date,” Shirzad said. “I think the fact that we've gotten candidates at all levels, all the way to the presidential level, to talk about crypto and think about it constructively has been really heartening.”

Despite once dismissing crypto as a “scam,” Trump has now fully embraced the industry, vowing to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” if he wins in November.

He and his sons also launched a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial in September.

Harris has also signaled more openness to crypto, although she has not been quite as vocal about the issue as her opponent.

She offered one of her strongest statements yet in September, telling Wall Street donors she plans to “encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting investors and consumers.”

Harris offered some additional insight into her potential approach to the issue in her Opportunity Agenda for Black Men earlier this month, promising to support "a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets so Black men who invest in and own these assets are protected."

Harris’s comments represent a welcome shift for the industry, which has frequently expressed frustration with the Biden administration regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approach to regulation and enforcement.

Updated at 6:03 p.m. EDT