FEC Snoozes Through the Election While Allegedly Illegal Coinbase Spending Reaches $50M

Yesterday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pledged another $25 million to the crypto super PAC Fairshake, bringing the company’s total spending in the 2024 election up to more than $76 million. Public Citizen, along with researcher and author Molly White, submitted a complaint to the FEC in August alleging that a large portion of these contributions are illegal because Coinbase is a federal contractor (and federal law bars campaign contributions to political parties, committees, or candidates from federal contractors). The FEC has not yet responded.

Public Citizen research director Rick Claypool released the following statement in response to the news:

"Coinbase has spent more than $50 million in what appears to be illegal campaign contributions from a federal contractor to attack candidates who might stand up to Big Crypto; meanwhile, the FEC is snoozing through the election. The time to hold campaign finance violators accountable is now — not after illegal election spending has corrupted our democracy."

In late August, Public Citizen released a report authored by Claypool that found crypto corporations, including Coinbase, poured $119 million directly into influencing federal elections, with 44% of all corporate money spent this cycle coming from crypto backers. Two months later, that number appears to be $145 million.