One of Joe Biden's Biggest Donors Runs a Cryptocurrency Exchange

FTX exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was in the top 20 contributors to Joe Biden’s 2020 US presidential campaign with a $5.2 million donation.

2 min read

Nov 5, 2020

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto derivatives exchange FTX, counts himself among one of Joe Biden's top campaign contributors with a $5.2 million donation.

As the divisive US election chugs along, news of the donation has spread through crypto Twitter.

"Biden - funded by yield farming," quipped Nansen CEO Alex Svanvik in a nod to FTX's DeFi Index futures contract.

The donation disclosure came per Opensecrets.org, a website aggregating the top contributors to the 2020 US presidential race.

While the prize for the largest contribution goes to Bloomberg LP, with a $57.5 million donation, FTX's comparatively humble $5.2 million handout comes in close behind that of Google's parent company, Alphabet, which offered the Biden campaign $6.3 million.

According to crypto researcher Adam Cochran, rather than going to Biden directly, FTX's hefty donation went to a political action committee (PAC) based out of Silicon Valley.

"That can be either top ticket support or corporate lobbying," Cochran remarked.

For many, however—regardless of the donation vehicle—nothing changes the fact that a crypto exchange is now permanently etched as a top contributor for a potential US president.

Indeed, as results trickle in, it's becoming more and more likely that Bankman-Fried backed the winning candidate. According to the Associated Press, Biden remains firmly in the lead with 264 electoral college votes to Trump's 214.

Put another way, Biden only needs 6 more electoral college votes to secure the 46th US presidency—and it's a crypto exchange that helped him get there.

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