American Crypto companies were heavily rested in the re -election of President Donald Trump in 2024 and contributed to his campaign more than $ 144 million. But “uncontrolled political expenses” forms “in -depth risks”, according to a report published by the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a non -profit organization that promotes transparency in political contributions of companies.
The report states that the “aggressive urge to deregulation of the crypto companies, combined with opaque and inexplicable political contributions”, has increased “red flags among the supervisors”. What is even more important, it has eroded the trust of investors and public confidence in the viability of these companies in the long term. “
Crypto companies have donated heavily to re-elected Trump, and it pays off
The political expenditure of American crypto companies reached “an unprecedented scale” during Trump’s re-election campaign, in particular Coinbase and Ripple, according to the report.
The Political Action Committee of Coinbase (PAC) donated more than $ 79 million for the re -election of Trump, according to data from OpenSecrets, a platform that follows political donations. Ripple was the second largest donor among crypto companies with contributions of more than $ 63.6 million.
Coinbase also donated $ 1 million to the inauguration committee of Trump, while Ripple donated $ 5 million to digital assets. In addition, Coinbase has committed itself to donating $ 25 million for the interim elections of 2026.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of the Crypto Exchange Gemini, donated $ 1 million to Bitcoin (BTC) to Trump 47. Their donations exceeded the legal limit of $ 844,600 and collectively received restitutions of more than $ 300,000.
All three fairs were in hot water for years with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In June 2023, the SEC Coinbase calculated for working as a non -registered stock exchange.
Ripple was engaged in a legal battle with the SEC since 2020. In August 2024, Ripple insured a partial victory for the court, because the judge stated that XRP could not be classified as effects because they had not met the Howey test. However, the SEC has appealed against the decision that CEO Brad Garlinghouse has described as ‘insanity’.
Likewise, the SEC in January 2023 Gemini and Genesis calculated for offering unregistered effects through their now deficated Earn program. After a federal court rejected the requests of the companies to reject the case of the SEC, Genesis decided to pay the case by $ 21 million. Gemini, however, continued to fight.
Trump promised SEC chairman Gary Genler, but Gensler resigned from the inauguration of Trump. Since then the tables have turned around and have started to look up for crypto companies.
Last month, Cameron Winklevoss announced that the SEC has dropped his investigation into the stock exchange. The company has reported to have now confidentially applied for a first public offer (IPO). Likewise, the SEC revened his case against Coinbase on 27 February.
Earlier this week, Trump also signed an executive order on creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
The risks of uncontrolled political spending can endanger the entire industry, CPA Report Claims
The CPA report claims that crypto companies have used political contributions to get political influence. This strategy is reputation, legal and financial risks and can have the opposite effect, not only endangers the future of the companies involved, but also the entire industry.
The report stated:
‘If the [crypto] The industry continues to seek influence through enormous contributions and opaque financial maneuvers, the risks of instability, legal recoil and public distrust grow alone. “
The report also warned that historically industries that give priority to political profit in the short term over transparency and compliance often have under major consequences. This includes legal action and purchase of consumer trust.
The CPA report also pointed to the conflicts of interest within the Trump government that raise serious ethical questions. For example, Crypto investor David Sacks, the choice of Trump for ‘Crypto Czar’, is to make a significant profit with the establishment of the American BTC supply.
Earlier this week, Sacks confirmed that he divested his personal crypto companies before the start of the Trump administration. However, he is still a partner at his investment firm Craft Ventures, who has interests in crypto companies. That is why the investment firm and therefore bags could benefit from the US government that Bitcoin Hodling.
“This ghost of inappropriation does nothing to worry about the pay-to-play nature of cryptocurrency,” the report noted.
The report also emphasized the dangers of political leaders promoting meme coins and fraudstokens. For example, the Argentinian President Javier Milei promotes a token called $ scales that lost around $ 4.6 billion within a few hours. Similarly, Trump promotes his own memecoin $ Trump on January 17. The Token reached a peak of more than $ 73 on January 19, but has since lost more than 83% of its value.
The CPA report concluded:
“Without greater transparency and accountability, the future of the legitimacy of crypto in the financial world remains uncertain.”