The co-founder of fintech giant Ripple, Chris Larsen, has made the first documented cryptocurrency donation to U.S. Presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris, sending $1 million worth of XRP to a Political Action Committee (PAC) supporting her.
According to Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, the donation was made to one of the leading super PACs supporting Harris’ campaign, Future Forward USA, and came in the form of 1.75 million XRP tokens.
Future Forward USA accepts cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce and automatically converts donated funds into the USDC stablecoin, which is pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar, to minimize the potential impact of cryptocurrency price movements.
In total the PAC has raised $200 million after receiving contributions through various prominent figures, including venture capitalist Reid Hoffman and Coinbase itself. Larsen’s donations comes at a time in which Ripple itself is still locked in a legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The legal battle started after the SEC sued Ripple and two of its executives in 2020 alleging they “raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.”
Last year, District Judge Analisa Torres of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a complex ruling in the lawsuit, noting XRP sales in secondary markets could not be classified as investment contracts since the funds did not trace back to Ripple.. Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors, however, violated securities law.
Notably, crypto has become central to the 2024 US Presidential election, with both candidates now accepting cryptocurrency donations. Harris’ economic plan suggests it would support innovative technologies, while Trump has vowed to support the cryptocurrency industry.
Earlier this year, Donald Trump said during a pro-cryptocurrency speech there’s never been anything like Bitcoin, which he claims can one day probably surpass the market capitalization of gold. In that speech, he vowed to support the industry and hold all the BTC the U.S. government currently has.
Featured image via Pixabay.
