Fortune continues to smile on United States pro-crypto super political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, with the second big-buck contribution in two days. A16z managing partner announced on May 30 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.
Andreessen Horowitz is thus running practically nose-to-nose with Ripple, which contributed $25 million on May 29 to bring its total giving to $50 million for this year and in 2023. The new contribution brings a16z’s total giving to $47 million in two years, Dixon tweeted. He said:
“This contribution along with others from the industry will be used to further Fairshake’s mission of supporting candidates from both sides of the aisle to promote American entrepreneurs and recognize the need for clear rules of the road for digital assets.”
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Bipartisanship has been a keyword for the crypto industry as it eyes Democratic support in the November U.S. elections.
Venture capital gets political
Andreessen Horowitz announced its entry into the political arena in December when it promised to support pro-crypto and pro-AI candidates in the elections. Ben Horowitz, a16z co-founder, said that the venture capitalists supported “high quality regulation can enable an industry to thrive while protecting consumers.”
Andreessen Horowitz has invested at least $7.6 billion in the crypto industry, beginning with an investment in Coinbase in 2013.
Fairshake is poised to act
Fairshake has most of its contributions still on hand. According to nonprofit Open Secret, it has spent $11.3 million as of May 29. The organization has raised $135 million in contributions, according to Bloomberg. Its largest expenditure by far, at $10 million, has been on negative advertising aimed against Democratic candidates.
Most or all of that money went to defeat U.S. Representative Katie Porter, who was running for a California Senate seat. The Sacramento Bee stated that the ad campaign against her was “mostly false.”
Observers are waiting to see whether the super PAC will support crypto lawyer John Deaton in his Senate race against vocal crypto opponent Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.
Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto confirmed the May 29 Ripple and May 30 a16z contributions to Cointelegraph, but declined to comment further.
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