The Ripple executive chairman confirmed that he is donating $10 million in XRP tokens to the Democratic candidate in response to the tweet announcing that Future Forward PAC has already raised over $100 million for Harris’ campaign.
“It's time for the Democrats to have a new approach to tech innovation, including crypto. I believe Kamala Harris will ensure that American technology dominates the world, which is why I’m donating $10M in XRP in support of her,” Larsen posted on Twitter/X.
Fellow Ripple co-founder and CEO Brad Garlinghouse reacted to Larsen’s announcement by clarifying that Ripple will continue to engage with both parties to lobby for favorable regulation for the crypto industry—an issue that ideally should rise above the party lines.
This isn’t the first time Larsen has voiced his support for Kamala Harris. In August, Ripple's co-founder made the first documented crypto donation of 1,754,815.29 XRP to Harris’ campaign. Larsen also signed a joint letter in support of the Democratic candidate alongside 87 other current and former US business leaders, who expressed confidence in the Harris administration's ability to create an accommodating business environment for the US companies to win in the global market.
The race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remains exceedingly tight, so both candidates are seeking support from single-issue voters that can potentially swing the election. The crypto vote seems in this context like a perfect group to court, as the industry has by its side both deep pockets of lobbyists and the ironclad community of retail investors.
Donald Trump, who has billed himself as “The Crypto Candidate,” was the first to place his bet on the crypto voters, making lofty promises to the community. Among other things, the Republican nominee vowed to halt the development of CBDCs, fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, and build a national Bitcoin reserve. Although during his presidency Trump repeatedly criticized Bitcoin and crypto in general, he later became a Bitcoin convert, taking a leap into the digital assets industry first with several drops of NFTs and then with the launch of the cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial (WLF) that aims to raise $300 million in crypto token sales.
In turn, Kamala Harris, who joined a bid for crypto voters much later than Trump, called for a clear regulatory framework for crypto to protect Black male holders. This statement was so far the most concrete pro-crypto proposal from the Democratic candidate and was met with mixed reactions from the crypto community. While some applauded the pro-digital assets agenda, others accused Harris’ campaign of pandering to a specific group of voters.
Trump, who arguably enjoys more support from the crypto industry heavyweights than Harris, has received donations to his PACs from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Gemini’s Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Elon Musk.
At the same time, Trump’s rival Harris enjoys more support from non-crypto business leaders. According to Forbes, 76 billionaires had taken the side of Harris while 49 are backing Trump. The leaning toward Harris is motivated mainly by her track record as a California prosecutor and expectations of “fair and predictable” policies.
