As a reminder, the Political Action Committee (PAC) is a political action committee. In the context of the US political arena, it is an organisation that raises money to support candidates or promote political initiatives. There are also Super PACs that can raise unlimited amounts.

It’s funny that some representatives of the cryptocurrency community have used the possibilities of Super PACs or super PACs for political activism to support Democrats, who are known for their negative attitude to the coin industry.

In particular, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen revealed in the autumn that he donated a million dollars in the XRP cryptocurrency to then Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris in August. In October, he donated another $10 million in digital assets to support Harris, causing some Twitter users to call him a “masahist.”

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen

However, Brad Garlinghouse called the action of such organisations useful. According to him, the US presidential election in 2024 was a chance to increase education among the voting population.

What’s happening in the cryptocurrency industry

During the interview, the head of Ripple emphasised that the election was able to be influenced by the community as a whole and not by any particular political force. Here is the relevant rejoinder on the matter, as quoted by Coindesk.

Of the 29 Republicans and 33 Democrats that the industry supported in the Congressional elections, 85 per cent won. That’s incredible. We absolutely helped increase the number of seats held by the candidates we wanted with the money we allocated.

Again, Republicans have been more active in supporting the coin industry in recent years. So this statistic on the number of candidates supported also raises some questions.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse

On top of that, Garlinghouse lists some localised examples of PAC success. He continues.

Do I think we had an impact on the election of Democratic Senator in Michigan, Elissa Slotkin? Yes, absolutely. Do I think we had an impact in Arizona? Naturally.

While Fairshake’s Ripple-backed activities are non-partisan, one of the defining moments in the industry’s long-term course was the victory of Donald Trump specifically. Garlinghouse admits that through Fairshake was able to achieve a significant influence on Trump himself, and then on all Republicans.

While Donald had previously openly opposed the crypto market, crypto has now become the basis of his campaign promises. Here’s what Garlinghouse had to say about it.

I think it’s clear that Donald Trump has embraced cryptocurrencies and the crypto industry has embraced Donald Trump.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse

The year 2024 was an important milestone for Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency. Still after the preliminary conclusion of a long legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which ended in Ripple’s favour, the cryptoasset received a new impetus for growth.

The decision removed many regulatory hurdles, allowing XRP to regain investor confidence and expand its presence on key exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. As a result, the coin has issued significant growth, hitting new yearly highs and becoming one of the leaders in terms of trading volume in the sector the day before.

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According to Cointelegraph’s sources, already after the interview was released, Garlinghouse criticised what was happening.

He said that journalists missed a lot of important information – including the Ripple and SEC litigation. Here’s his quote from the broadcast.

Their charge was that Ripple and our sales of XRP constituted a sale of unregistered securities.

However, one detail the reporters never recorded. It’s about a court ruling from the summer of 2023, when a judge ruled that XRP was not a security with respect to software sales on exchanges. That is, transactions with the token for ordinary investors are not classified as a violation of the law, which means that the regulator should not have any claims to the issuing company.

The only exception was the sale of XRP to large investors who directly purchased coins from Ripple. In that case, the court did classify the transaction as transactions with unregistered securities.

The change in the value of the XRP cryptocurrency over the past three months

The 60 Minutes broadcast also featured counterarguments from former SEC official John Reed Stark. According to him, “the judges have said over and over again that the tokens in question are securities.” Nevertheless, Garlinghouse found Stark’s opinion to be correct, even though a lot of important information about the context of what was going on was cut from the broadcast.

The SEC originally filed suit against Ripple back in December 2020. In August 2023, a judge awarded the company a $125 million fine. The SEC then appealed the decision and Ripple filed a cross-appeal, resulting in the case being pending at the time of publication.


Campaign funding for politicians who support the cryptocurrency industry has had a definite impact on the outcome of the November US election. Thanks to this, there will be many more officials in Congress who don't see coins solely as a tool for breaking the law. And this gives hope for the emergence of adequate regulation of the crypto market already next year.
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