Crypto Super PAC Fairshake Raised $6.8 Million From Winklevoss Twins and VCs in January

By Stacy Elliott

Crypto-friendly super PAC Fairshake received $4.9 million from Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in January.

The donations—$2.45 million from each of the brothers—make up the bulk of the $6.8 million received by the organization last month, according to a Federal Election Commission report.

The Winkevoss twins started Gemini, a New York-based crypto exchange and custody platform, in 2015. The following year it became the first licensed Ethereum exchange in the U.S. and went on to launch its Gemini Earn program in 2021, which promised 7.4% returns on customer deposits.

But the company—along with most of the crypto industry—hit rough waters in 2022 and laid off 10% of its staff to prepare for "crypto winter." Later that year, Gemini had to freeze withdrawals for its Earn program because Genesis, its lending partner, had been hit hard by the wave of bankruptcies at other big crypto firms.

Meanwhile, Fairshake has quickly become one of the most popular super PACs for crypto-friendly donors this election cycle.

The Florida-based lobbying group also received donations from venture capital firms Blockchain Capital and Electric Capital Partners in January. The political organization has raised more than $85 million to date and ended last month with $73 million cash in hand.

Its treasurer, Brandon Philipczyk, has a long list of campaign experience on his LinkedIn profile. It includes having worked for Hillary Clinton's campaign in Nevada, the Democratic National Committee, Mike Bloomberg's 2020 presidential campaign, and now his own company: Bison Strategies.

Many of Fairshake's largest donations arrived late last year. They include $20 million from Ripple Labs; $21.5 million from Coinbase (including $1 million from CEO Brian Armstrong); and a whopping $38 million from Andreessen Horowitz and its co-founders, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

Just last week, the super PAC deployed millions of dollars from its war chest to fund attack ads targeting Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, a prominent ally of crypto-skeptic Senator Elizabeth Warren.

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