Fortune continues to favor United States pro-crypto super political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, as it receives another significant contribution. On May 30, A16z managing partner announced that the Andreessen Horowitz crypto and Web3 venture fund has donated $25 million to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs, Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress.
This puts Andreessen Horowitz in close competition with Ripple, which donated $25 million on May 29, bringing its total contributions for this year and 2023 to $50 million. With this new donation, A16z’s total contributions amount to $47 million over the span of two years, as Dixon tweeted. He stated:
“Bipartisanship has been a key focus for the crypto industry as it seeks Democratic support in the upcoming November U.S. elections.”
Venture capital enters the political realm with a bang. Andreessen Horowitz made its foray into politics in December by pledging to support candidates who are pro-crypto and pro-AI in the elections. Ben Horowitz, co-founder of A16z, expressed the venture capitalists’ belief that “high-quality regulation can enable an industry to thrive while protecting consumers.”
Having invested at least $7.6 billion in the crypto industry, starting with a stake in Coinbase in 2013, Andreessen Horowitz has firmly established its presence in the space.
Fairshake, on the other hand, is ready to take action. Most of its donations are still intact. According to nonprofit Open Secret, as of May 29, Fairshake has spent $11.3 million. Bloomberg reports that the organization has received $135 million in contributions. The majority of its expenditures, a staggering $10 million, have been allocated to negative advertising targeting Democratic candidates.
The bulk of this money was used to campaign against U.S. Representative Katie Porter, who was running for a California Senate seat. The Sacramento Bee noted that the ad campaign against her was “mostly false.”
Observers are eagerly awaiting to see if the super PAC will throw its support behind crypto lawyer John Deaton in his Senate race against staunch crypto opponent Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.
Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto confirmed to Cointelegraph the contributions made by Ripple on May 29 and Andreessen Horowitz on May 30, but declined to provide further comments.
In addition, crypto voters have already begun to make an impact on the 2024 presidential election, a trend that is being closely monitored.