According to a report released on Wednesday by Public Citizen, a corporate influence watchdog, nearly half of corporate political donations in the 2024 election cycle came from cryptocurrency companies. Public Citizen's report, which is based on data provided by the government transparency organization OpenSecrets, found that so far, 48% of corporate election spending has come from crypto companies such as Ripple and Coinbase. The vast majority of these donations have flowed into super political action committees (PACs) that support cryptocurrencies, such as Fairshake. The report noted that of the $203 million raised by Fairshake, $107.9 million came directly from crypto companies, and the rest came from well-known figures in the technology and crypto industries, including large donations from the Winklevoss brothers and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Rick Claypool, author of the Public Citizen report and director of research, described the crypto industry's political spending as "unprecedented." Direct spending by crypto companies has totaled $129 million over the past three election cycles, accounting for 15% of all known corporate donations since 2010. Since 2010, only the fossil fuel industry has outspent crypto companies, donating $162 million to fossil fuel-friendly politicians over the past 14 years. (CoinDesk)