Tether co-founder Phil Potter donated almost half a million dollars towards the Commonwealth Unity Fund (CUF), which is meant to support John Deaton.
This comes as the 57-year-old John Deaton, the Republican hopeful is looking at ousting the Democratic candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.
The Tether co-founder joins other crypto executives in supporting the elections
Now, Potter’s donation of $496,000 is part of the over $2 million raised for the Republican’s campaign trail so far. Potter also joins the likes of Ripple Labs and Winklevoss Capital, which have also raised and donated a million dollars each in support of Deaton.
According to statistics on Follow the Crypto, CUF has raised $2,566,145 and has spent $2,097,345. Apart from Winklevoss Capital, Ripple Labs, and Potter Ventures LLC, Ludlow Street Advisors (LCC) donated $50 in April.
Commenting on the donations on the X platform, some crypto enthusiasts opine this is refreshing to see more “crypto donations becoming more mainstream.”
“Phil is a massive OG. Good to see him still making moves although I wish he was more public. He used to spew alpha when he ran Bitfinex in various voice chats. Learned so much from the guy,” said one user identified as Dremann.
Others felt this was a step in the right direction to protect crypto-based companies with a pro-crypto Senator in place. These feel Sen Warren would fight some crypto-related businesses if she retains the seat.
“This year’s elections are battles between good vs evil… and most of the #crypto industry is on the right side of history, in the fight against evil represented proudly by the swamp Kamala/Biden/Obama,” said another enthusiast identified as DrChopper.
🚨NEW: @Tether_to co-founder @PhilGPotter donated nearly half a million dollars to the Commonwealth Unity Fund, a super PAC supporting @JohnEDeaton1 in his battle to unseat @SenWarren.
Potter joins @Ripple @cameron and @tyler in donating to CUF, which has raised over $2.5M in… pic.twitter.com/fN2KDx2lln
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) October 11, 2024
Crypto firms like Tether are securing their future
Since the election campaign started, crypto firms have poured large sums of money to back some candidates, reportedly to secure their businesses once a pro-crypto individual makes it.
As of September, crypto businesses had poured over $190 million towards the 2024 election in the US with the Winklevoss twins alone donating $10 million, becoming the biggest individual donors from the crypto industry.
Executives at Ripple have also made significant donations towards election campaigns, to support pro-crypto candidates. Some stakeholders in the crypto industry have expressed frustrations with the regulator, SEC.
Ripple for instance, has reportedly spent over $100 million fighting a lawsuit brought by the regulator, that has gone after some of the biggest crypto exchanges. The likes of Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken have been targets.
Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO has donated over $1.3 million to a mix of PACs, including Fairshake and JD Vance Senate while its legal officer Paul Grewal has attended some Donald Trump fundraisers this year.
Executives from other firms like Xapo Bank, BitGo, and Solana have also taken the initiative towards crypto friendly campaigns.
Some enthusiasts on X platform have also suggested a vote for a crypto-friendly candidate would make “America great again” alluding to a Trump presidency and the benefits it might bring for the crypto industry.
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