Trump became the first major presidential candidate to accept digital token donations.
An organization that supports former President Donald Trump, a political action committee (PAC), has received contributions in cryptocurrency worth about $7.5 million.
The Trump 47 joint fundraising committee reported contributions in Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP, along with stablecoins like Tether and USDC, according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Donations received between July 1 and September 30 are included in the FEC filing, which was filed on Tuesday. The figures also include cumulative contributions.
Trump Relies on Support from Crypto Community
With just a few weeks until the 2024 presidential election and polls indicating a close contest, Trump is heavily depending on the cryptocurrency community for support.
In contrast to his prior position during his presidency, he has positioned himself as the pro-crypto candidate in this election.
As a sign of his new direction, Trump became the first significant presidential contender to accept donations made with digital tokens in May.
A report from the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen claims that the cryptocurrency industry is the source of almost half of the corporate funding going into the current election cycle.
Important participants in the market have made major contributions, including Coinbase, Ripple, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
This election season, the industry has raised almost thirteen times as much money overall than it did in the previous presidential cycle.
According to the Trump 47 filing, at least 18 donors gave more than $5.5 million in Bitcoin, and seven more gave about $1.5 million in Ether.
More than 15 states, including important battleground states and Puerto Rico, are among the donors.
If this number from Pennsylvania is valid and holds, then Donald Trump becomes the 47th president of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/FeKz0ZtGR0
— Kalu Aja (@FinPlanKaluAja1) October 15, 2024
These contributors work as producers for Esperanza Entertainment, sales engineers at Duthie Power Services, and software engineers at Lockheed Martin.
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc., was one of the prominent donors, contributing more than $498,000 in Bitcoin.
New donors also include Chase Herro, co-founder of the Trump family’s crypto initiative, World Liberty Financial.
This platform just held its token sale with the goal of serving as a decentralized bank for cryptocurrency transactions.
It has, however, encountered difficulties; of its $300 million fundraising goal, only $10.2 million has been raised thus far, partially as a result of technical issues during launch.
Other Major Crypto Donors
Other notable donors include Brian Murray, a partner at Craft Ventures, who contributed $6,560 in Bitcoin, and Mike Belshe, the CEO of BitGo, who donated almost $100,000 in Bitcoin.
The founder of Kresus Labs Trevor Traina, CEO of Chainstone Labs Bruce Fenton, and Cardone Digital Ventures’ Gary Cardone made additional donations.
Chief Legal Officer of Ripple Stuart Alderoty gave $300,000 in XRP.
Interestingly, in June, he went to a Trump fundraising event that venture capitalist David Sacks was hosting.
Alderoty’s contribution, however, is in contrast to that of Chris Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple, who has used the Future Forward super PAC to back Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Unlike Trump-supporting donors, Future Forward—which also takes cryptocurrency donations—backs Harris.