The U.S. 2024 elections weren’t just a victory for candidates; they were a windfall for crypto leaders like Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong. The industry’s hefty political spending through Fairshake PAC, a Coinbase-backed super PAC, has translated into eye-popping personal gains for Armstrong and his peers, according to CoinDesk.
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Coinbase’s Armstrong Cashes In
Armstrong poured $74 million into Fairshake PAC, a staggering investment considering Coinbase only reported $95 million in profits for 2023. However, it paid off. Since the election on November 5, Coinbase’s market value has soared by $21 billion, and Armstrong’s stock sales alone have netted him an extra $129 million, according to CoinDesk. His stake in Coinbase, now worth $6.4 billion, has ballooned by nearly $2 billion since election day.
Armstrong explained on X that his stock sales were part of a pre-planned diversification strategy, allowing him to invest in “moonshots” while retaining the majority of his shares.
Ripple and a16z Leaders See Gains
Ripple (XRP-USD) CEO Brad Garlinghouse also saw his fortune skyrocket after XRP surged from $0.50 to $2.32 post-election. “The crypto market is up over $1 trillion since Trump won,” Garlinghouse told CoinDesk, linking the market rally to regulatory relief. Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz’s Mark Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, though less publicly detailed about their earnings, have benefited immensely from their crypto stakes, including investments in Solana (SOL-USD) and Uniswap (UNI-USD).
Political Spending Sparks Returns
Fairshake PAC helped elect over 50 pro-crypto lawmakers, bolstering the industry’s political clout. Critics argue the campaign was purely transactional, with Public Citizen’s Rick Claypool describing it as catering to “specific industry interests.”
Still, for Armstrong and others, the strategy worked. The U.S. crypto landscape, reshaped by their political bets, has delivered both market growth and staggering personal wealth.
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