Coinbase Crypto-

chris lacivita

sinema

MBS saudi

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BITCHUATION GIL DURAN?

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propel the privatized city of Prosper in

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the country, a project in which Trump

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donors Peter Teal, Mark Andre, Sam

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Alman, and CEO of Coinbase Brian

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Armstrong are all heavily invested.

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Hernandez was their meal ticket. As Gil

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Duran writes, he championed special

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economic zones where investors could set

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the hill

wASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump took office in January pledging to “make America the crypto capital of the world.” He has since harnessed wide swaths of the federal government to bolster the industry — all while raking in huge sums of money for his family’s business.

By some estimates, crypto ventures now account for nearly 40% of the Trump Organization’s $2.9 billion net worth. But the Republican president’s championing of the industry has been just as big a boon for many of the industry’s top names.

Many have seen their profits and political standing soar, while investigations of potential wrongdoing and other legal entanglements led by the administration of Trump’s predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, have largely fallen away.

Here’s a look at some of the crypto industry’s top leaders and their ties to Trump:

Justin Sun

A Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur and founder of the cryptocurrency platform Tron, Sun is best known for buying a piece of conceptual art consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall for $6.2 million and subsequently eating the banana.

Ties to Trump: Sun was the top investor in Trump’s meme coin, $Trump, and secured the top spot at the president’s recent crypto dinner, which was held at Trump’s golf course just outside Washington. Sun posted a professionally produced video of himself receiving a $100,000 gold watch that Trump’s meme coin awarded to the top four investors. Sun also recently bragged about his close ties to the White House, posting in Chinese on X “It’s all true” over a series of posts listing his links to the president and his meme coin. Sun was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission under Biden for working to artificially inflate the price of crypto, an investigation that has been paused since Trump took office. Sun was an early and important investor in World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture Trump and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. The president’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar.

Michael Saylor

The co-founder and chair of Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, Saylor is one of bitcoin’s most prominent and outspoken evangelists. He owns a yacht once featured on “Entourage,” and his is the most high-profile bitcoin treasury company, which is a type of firm primarily focused on buying and holding bitcoin as its business model. Strategy currently holds more than 2% of all outstanding bitcoins in circulation and is constantly buying more.

Ties to Trump: Trump Media, the parent company of the president’s social media platform, Truth Social, has announced it will raise $2.5 billion from institutional investors to buy bitcoin in an attempt to build up a cryptocurrency reserve, similar to what Saylor’s company is best known for. Saylor met in January with Eric Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and the president’s son has spoken publicly about how he and Saylor were friends who knew each other in New York two decades ago. Saylor also attended the president’s first crypto summit at the White House in March. “All of us owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude,” Eric Trump said of Saylor, praising him at the recent annual bitcoin conference in Las Vegas as an effective spokesperson for the crypto community.

Changpeng Zhao

Known universally as CZ, Zhao is founder and former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. He was sentenced last year to four months in prison for failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. Zhao was released in September.

Ties to Trump: World Liberty Financial recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance. Zhao also has publicly said that he’s asked Trump for a pardon that could nullify his conviction.

Brian Armstrong

Co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange, Armstrong has been a key figure in the crypto industry’s push into politics.

Ties to Trump: Armstrong and Coinbase were major donors to a political action committee that helped Trump and other pro-crypto candidates. He met with Trump weeks after Election Day and attended the White House crypto summit. Coinbase hired Trump’s former campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, to its Global Advisory Council. Trump also addressed, via prerecorded video message, Coinbase’s State of Crypto Summit this month.

The Winklevoss Twins

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss founded the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange and are most famous to the general public for suing Mark Zuckerberg over the creation of Facebook, an important plot point in the movie “The Social Network.” In 2023, Biden’s SEC sued Gemini for selling unregistered securities, another case that’s been paused since Trump took office.

Ties to Trump: The twins each pledged $1 million donations to the Trump campaign, as well as lavish donations to Elon Musk’s political group – though some of the donations to Trump’s campaign were returned because the Winklevoss brothers had violated federal limits. They were invited to Trump’s crypto summit and praised the president’s approach to the sector then. Addressing the crypto conference in Las Vegas, Vice President JD Vance said the brothers “really helped break the dam” and persuade tech sector leaders to support Trump’s campaign. “I think they were some of the first big names in Silicon Valley to take that step, and a whole host of people followed them,” Vance said.

David Bailey

Bailey is the CEO of BTC Inc., an influential holding company with ventures throughout the crypto industry including Bitcoin Magazine. He recently raised $300 million to launch Nakamoto, a publicly traded bitcoin investment company.

Ties to Trump: Baily served as a crypto adviser to Trump’s campaign. Vance also saluted Bailey at the Las Vegas conference, saying he was “grateful for everything you’ve done for the bitcoin community.”

Associated Press writer Alan Suderman contributed to this report.

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AI Overview

Coinbase CEO

Brian Armstrong is a significant political donor, particularly to pro-crypto causes and candidates, including substantial support for Donald Trump's political efforts, with Coinbase contributing to a PAC that supported Trump and Armstrong meeting with him after the 2024 election; he aligns with pro-crypto, free-market ideals, supports regulatory clarity, and embraces libertarian-leaning concepts like "economic freedom" and "Network State" philosophy, advocating for less government intervention in crypto, which contrasts with stricter regulation under previous administrations.

Donations & Political Involvement

Pro-Trump/Crypto PACs: Armstrong and Coinbase donated heavily to super PACs like Fairshake, which supported pro-crypto candidates, including Trump.
Meetings with Trump: Armstrong met with Donald Trump post-election in 2024 to discuss potential personnel appointments for a new administration.
Hiring: Coinbase hired Chris LaCivita, Trump's former campaign manager, to its Global Advisory Council.

Political Stance & Ideology

Libertarian/Pro-Crypto: Armstrong champions economic freedom and has spoken positively about Trump's push for regulatory clarity, viewing it as crucial for the crypto industry's growth.
"Network State": He supports the concept of the Network State, a political movement advocating for decentralized, technology-driven governance.
Advocacy: Armstrong actively lobbies for clear crypto legislation, aiming to move the industry from being "at the little-kids' table" in DC to having real political power.

Relationship with Trump

Shift from Skepticism: Trump, once a Bitcoin skeptic, became a proponent of digital assets, a shift welcomed by Armstrong and the crypto industry, leading to a strong working relationship.
Regulatory Goals: Armstrong sees the Trump administration as key to establishing clearer rules, contrasting with perceived "weaponization" of unclear rules by the Biden administration.

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AI Overview

Coinbase CEO

Brian Armstrong was a major figure in the crypto industry's political spending during the 2024 U.S. elections, which included significant financial involvement in races involving Senators Sherrod Brown and Representative Katie Porter.

Brian Armstrong's Role and Donations

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, was a prominent donor to pro-crypto political action committees (PACs), most notably Fairshake.

Individual Donations: Armstrong personally donated $1 million to the Fairshake PAC network and more than $100,000 to individual lawmakers.

Corporate Contributions: Under Armstrong's leadership, Coinbase was the leading corporate contributor to Fairshake, providing approximately $66 million to support industry-friendly candidates and oppose crypto-skeptics.
:
Advocacy: Armstrong actively advocated for the crypto industry's political influence, stating, "Money moves the needle... For better or worse, that's how our system works". He also encouraged a "pro-crypto Congress" and actively sought to unseat anti-crypto politicians.

Involvement in the Sherrod Brown Race

The crypto industry targeted Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who was the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee and a noted crypto skeptic.

Opposition Spending: Fairshake and affiliated PACs spent an estimated $40 million to oppose Brown's reelection and support his Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, who was a longtime crypto advocate.

Outcome: The massive spending contributed to a tight race, which Moreno ultimately won in the November 2024 election. The ads run against Brown did not mention crypto and instead focused on other political topics.

Involvement in the Katie Porter Race

Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) was running in the California Democratic Senate primary and was also a target of the crypto industry's political spending.

Opposition Spending: Fairshake spent over $10 million in an effort to derail Porter's campaign, reportedly due to her association with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her general skepticism towards the industry's energy usage.

Outcome: Porter was a primary target of the PAC network and ultimately did not advance past the primary, losing to Adam Schiff, who was seen as more favorable to the industry.

The industry's spending campaign was largely successful in influencing key races, with 91% of the candidates the industry backed with significant funds winning their elections in 2024.

How tech bros bought 'America's most pro-crypto Congress ever'}:

Nov 23, 2024 — Armstrong, Coinbase's CEO, gave more than $1.3 million to a mix of PACs including Fairshake and JD Vance for Senate In...

CNBC·MacKenzie Sigalos

7:49

Crypto Super PACs Amass Over $100 Million for 2024 Elections

May 6, 2024 — Top Crypto Spenders. Coinbase. Coinbase is a leading cryptocurrency exchange offering users a platform for buying and s...

Public Citizen

Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an ...

Aug 21, 2024 — The primary beneficiary of the corporate crypto cash is Fairshake PAC, a super PAC that has raised $202.9 million. Mor...

Public Citizen

[### Crypto's $245 million campaign finance operation funded ...

CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com › 2024/11/05 › cryptos-245-mill...](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/05/cryptos-245-million-campaign-finance-operation-funded-non-crypto-ads.html)

Nov 5, 2024 — The crypto sector emerged as a top donor this election cycle, but the ads it funded weren't about digital currencies.

[### Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster

The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com › magazine › 2024/10/14](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/14/silicon-valley-the-new-lobbying-monster)

Oct 7, 2024 — From crypto to AI, the tech sector is pouring millions into super PACS that intimidate politicians into supporting its agenda.Read more

[### Crypto Comes For Sherrod Brown: $32 Million in Ads ...

Rolling Stone

https://www.rollingstone.com › politics › politics-features](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/sherrod-brown-crypto-bernie-moreno-millions-1235102478/)

Sep 15, 2024 — Crypto companies are spending $800000 a day to take out Sherrod Brown, one of their chief critics in Congress, and replace him with an ally.

[### Crypto Companies Have Made the Most Political ...

Inc.com

https://www.inc.com › chris-morris › crypto-companies...](https://www.inc.com/chris-morris/crypto-companies-corporate-political-donations.html)

Aug 23, 2024 — Crypto companies, including Ripple and Coinbase, have spent over $119 million so far this year to influence voters, according to a new ...

[### Cryptobros United: Crypto Super PACs Amass Over $100 ...

Public Citizen

https://www.citizen.org › Articles](https://www.citizen.org/article/cryptobros-united-fairshake-super-pac-2024-elections/)

May 6, 2024 — Only the super PAC backing Ron DeSantis' failed presidential campaign and the super PAC backing Democratic Senate candidates have raised more ...Read more

[### Crypto has become one of the most powerful forces in ...

Fortune

https://fortune.com › crypto › 2024/05/08 › crypto-dar...](https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/05/08/crypto-dark-money-politics-donations-elections-fairshake/)

May 8, 2024 — Crypto's most influential role in politics has not been the vanity candidacies of blockchain advocates, but the growing prevalence of dark money.Read more

[### Crypto titans' war chest threatens Sherrod Brown, other Dems

Crain's Cleveland Business

https://www.crainscleveland.com › Politics & Policy](https://www.crainscleveland.com/politics-policy/crypto-titans-war-chest-threatens-sherrod-brown-other-dems)

Jun 14, 2024 — Democratic control of the Senate hinges on the reelection of Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana.

[### Crypto Titans' $160 Million War Chest Threatens Senate ...

Bloomberg.com

https://www.bloomberg.com › news › articles › crypto-tit...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-14/crypto-titans-160-million-war-chest-threatens-senate-democrats)

Jun 14, 2024 — Crypto billionaires and their allies have amassed a $160 million war chest to protect their fortunes by bolstering US candidates who favor ...

[### How tech bros bought 'America's most pro-crypto Congress ...

CNBC

https://www.cnbc.com › 2024/11/23 › how-tech-bros-b...](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/23/how-tech-bros-bought-americas-most-pro-crypto-congress-ever.html)

Nov 23, 2024 — Crypto showed up in force this election cycle, raising tens of millions to vote out the industry's critics and vote in its friends.

[### Crypto industry election spending tallies at least $238M ...

Fox Business

https://www.foxbusiness.com › politics](https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/crypto-industry-election-spending-tallies-least-238m-surpassing-traditional-giants)

Nov 4, 2024 — The industry's largest corporate spenders have donated a combined $160 million to a handful of pro-crypto super PACs supporting ...

12 25 GGL

[### look at the major players in the crypto industry and their ...

The Hill

https://thehill.com › homenews › ap-business › ap-a-loo...](https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-business/ap-a-look-at-the-major-players-in-the-crypto-industry-and-their-ties-to-trump/)

Jun 24, 2025 — Ties to Trump: Armstrong and Coinbase were major donors to a political action committee that helped Trump and other pro-crypto candidates. He ...Read more

[### Coinbase, Ripple among crypto titans donating to Trump's ...

The Block

https://www.theblock.co › post › crypto-donors-trump-...](https://www.theblock.co/post/376062/crypto-donors-trump-white-house-ballroom)

Oct 24, 2025 — Crypto heavyweights — including Ripple and Coinbase — are among a list of donors contributing to the new White House ballroom.

Missing: PROSPERO ‎LIBERTARIAN

[### Coinbase CEO says company has donated $25M to vote ...

Fox Business

https://www.foxbusiness.com › politics › coinbase-ceo-s...](https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/coinbase-ceo-says-company-donated-25m-vote-anti-crypto-politicians-out-congress)

Jun 3, 2024 — Coinbase CEO says company has donated $25M to vote anti-crypto politicians out of Congress. The donation matches recent contributions from ...Read more

Missing: PROSPERO ‎| Show results with: PROSPERO

SEC Drops Coinbase Lawsuit Following $1 Million Donation

readsludge.com

https://readsludge.com › 2025/02/21 › sec-drops-coinb...](https://readsludge.com/2025/02/21/sec-drops-coinbase-lawsuit-following-1-million-donation/)

Feb 21, 2025 — The decision hands a win to Coinbase, a Trump inauguration donor, ending a case that the crypto company was operating an unregistered securities exchange.Read more

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crypto-money-trump-inauguration-00199088

Jasper Goodman01/17/2025

The cryptocurrency industry, fresh off a 2024 elections spending spree, has turned its influence efforts in recent months to a new target: celebrating the start of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

Leading crypto firms have pumped at least $10 million into the Trump inaugural fund, and top executives are flocking to Washington ahead of the incoming president’s swearing-in on Monday.

Crypto companies including Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Robinhood and Circle have made seven-figure donations to Trump’s inaugural committee since Election Day — part of a wave of corporate contributions that Trump has reeled in as big businesses scrambled to curry favor with the incoming administration.

The donations, which will fund the glitzy official events surrounding the inauguration, exemplify the giddiness across the digital asset sector as Trump prepares to become the first-ever explicitly pro-crypto U.S. president. The industry is eyeing any avenue of influence as it pushes the incoming administration and a GOP-controlled Congress to complete a regulatory overhaul that could boost its growth.

“This is a moment of celebration for the industry,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, a leading crypto trade association.

The industry laid the groundwork for that celebration by pouring more than $160 million into a super PAC that helped elect a bipartisan slate of lawmakers sympathetic to its agenda. The high-dollar influence campaigns illustrate how the crypto industry has become a major new well that politicians are tapping for contributions, helping it play an outsize role in American politics.

Crypto firms are hosting a sold-out unofficial inaugural ball on Friday at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in downtown Washington. The event, which is set to feature Snoop Dogg as a musical guest, is being put on in part by David Bailey, who runs a bitcoin conference that Trump spoke at last summer. Other sponsors include the Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto and the digital asset firms Exodus, Anchorage Digital and Kraken.

It all comes as crypto executives and their lobbyists are scrambling to gain sway over the policy changes that Trump has vowed to usher in, which include stockpiling bitcoin and putting in place a new framework for how digital assets are regulated — “written by people who love your industry.”

One target of fixation for players in the crypto space is a digital assets advisory council that Trump has vowed to create, led by incoming White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks and former North Carolina Congressional candidate Bo Hines.

“Everyone is jockeying for it,” said one Washington crypto lobbyist, granted anonymity to speak candidly about sensitive dynamics within the industry.

Several top executives are expected to be in town for the inauguration, along with other tech leaders who have taken steps to get in Trump’s good graces in recent months. And many firms have shelled out to fill the inaugural fund’s coffers.

The crypto firm Ripple, a major target of enforcement action from the SEC that the industry decried during the Biden era, donated $5 million in digital tokens to the inaugural committee, according to a spokesperson for the company. Two of the firm’s top executives, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty, who met with Trump earlier this month at Mar-a-Lago, plan to attend the swearing-in.

The U.S. crypto exchanges Coinbase and Kraken and the stablecoin company Circle, which issues a token that is pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar, each donated $1 million to the inaugural fund. Robinhood, a leading online brokerage that dabbles in crypto, donated $2 million, according to a spokesperson. Top Coinbase executives including CEO Brian Armstrong were on Capitol Hill on Friday, ahead of the inauguration. Armstrong has twice met with Trump, according to a spokesperson for the company, including once since Election Day.

“I think it’s important to ensure that industry … can engage with this administration and engage in a meaningful way during the transition period,” Kara Calvert, vice president for U.S. policy at Coinbase, said of the firm’s donation. “This is the most pro-crypto president that we’ve ever seen, and he has made a platform clear now for months. And that is a really attractive characteristic right now.”

The donations have become an early target for Democrats and watchdog groups, who say the president is selling influence.

“Billionaires think they bought this government,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leading critic of the crypto industry in Congress, told reporters Thursday. “They’re sure throwing their weight around.”

*Irie Sentner and Eleanor Mueller contributed to this report.

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NERD REICH?

What Is Silicon Valley's 'Nerd Reich,' and Is It Taking Over the US Government? | KQED

Sixty percent of surveyed American adults said they had an unfavorable view of Elon Musk — the billionaire Tesla CEO, who has been intimately involved with the federal government for months through his leadership of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency.

Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Musk’s DOGE has slashed large swaths of federal jobs and cut funding to programs as varied as the U.S. Agency for International Development to energy-saving initiatives for low-income families. And this March poll of 1,000 people by the Marquette Law School is just one indicator that some Americans are tired of wealthy tech figures being involved in the nation’s politics.

“We’re learning a big lesson here, which is that we can have democracy or we can have billionaires, but we can’t have both,” San Francisco journalist Gil Duran said.

KQED Forum’s Mina Kim spoke to Duran, who formerly worked for California politicians like Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris, about the “Silicon Valley tech billionaire politics” that are the focus of hisnewsletter, The Nerd Reich — and what he thinks tech elites might want next.

*This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Before DOGE, there was RAGE

Gil Duran: Curtis Yarvin is a San Francisco software programmer who, in the early 2000s, started blogging under the name “Mencius Moldbug.” And in his blog posts — very internet troll stuff — he laid out these ideas for replacing democracy with tech-controlled dictatorships.

He specifically focused on San Francisco, which he said in his corporate tech dictatorship would be renamed “Frisk Corp.” In Frisk Corp, you would have to swipe in with RFIDchips and be under total surveillance, and give up all of your freedom in exchange for security.

The Broligarchy Pt 1: Chronicles of the PayPal Mafia

The important thing to understand about Curtis Yarvin is that he became a favorite thinker of Peter Thiel, the PayPal Mafia billionairewho founded Palantir and got even richer off of government surveillance. Some people call him Peter Thiel’s house philosopher.

In 2012, [Yarvin] gave a speech in which he said that the government needed to be reformed with something he called RAGE — Retire All Government Employees. And that entailed taking over the federal government, purging the bureaucracy of anybody who’s a Democrat or who believes in democracy, and replacing all federal employees with people who would answer to a CEO-dictator-type of person. Very much mirroring what Elon Musk is doing with DOGE at this current time.

If it weren’t for these billionaires, [Yarvin would] be just an anonymous internet troll. The whole reason this has gone national is because of JD Vance. [And] to understand JD Vance, you have to understand that he is largely a creation of Peter Thiel. At every step of JD’s career, Peter Thiel has been there, funding him.

Mike Pence looks on as Donald Trump shakes the hand of Peter Thiel during a meeting with technology executives during the first Trump Administration. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Predicting the ‘cognitive elite’

Yarvin is largely deriving his ideas from other places.

To really understand this, you have to go back to a 1997 book called The Sovereign Individual, which basically was one of these dark, apocalyptic-style books, and it predicted that in the 21st century, the information age would undermine the existing economy and existing nation-states. Thatthe Information Agewould kill lots of jobs and result in a lot of violence and chaos, and also lead to the rise of a so-called “cognitive elite”: people who are able to become wealthy off of technology and don’t need traditional jobs to survive.

It would be their mission to escape from existing countries using something called cyber currency — basically crypto, which would allow them to evade taxation and evade government authority, and create their own nations that they would rule over in this post-democracy order brought about by the information age.

These ideas sound crazy when you first hear them. They sounded very unhinged to me, and I didn’t pay attention to them at first.

However, you have to understand that these are very wealthy men with very strange and scary ideas. And they seriously believe in them.

[

The GOP vs. the ‘broligarchs’?

I think Trump has, for the most, part right now, been bought off. Trump’s in it for the money — and these guys have plenty of it.

He may not have the ideology, but as long as Elon and these guys are going to spend billions of dollars and create all of these business opportunities for his family, I think he’s all in.

There is a problem, though, because this is becoming very unpopular very quickly. The polls are diving. Elon Musk is becoming one of the most despised men in the country. He’s threatening Social Security. He’s firing veterans. You’ve got Republicans showing up to town halls to yell at their absentee representatives in early 2025.

This is a political disaster in many ways, so I think there will be some political tension between the Republican establishment and these “tech-broligarchs” — because they’re breaking all the rules of politics and don’t really seem to care about the future. And in politics, you’ve really got to care about the next election and the election after. That’s the name of the game.

Silicon Valley’s ‘right wing strain’

I compare it to: this tech authoritarianism is the parasite and MAGA is the host.

[Tech leaders] saw an opportunity, right? It’s a very opportunistic play — and an opportunity to go as far as they can with a candidate who has been able to openly violate the law, and not pay any political consequence for it.

How J.D. Vance Went from Never Trumper to MAGA Warrior

This is not an ideology where the world is a better place for the majority of people. It’s a place where the world is a place for tech billionaires. You don’t make the world a better place by getting rid of Social Security, which is crucial to the survival of millions of Americans.

Malcolm Harris’s [book]*Palo Alto* talks about the right-wing strain through Silicon Valley. There was this idea during the nineties and part of the eighties and 2000s that tech was kind of fun: was going to make our life cool, all these nice products, connecting us, allowing us to buy stuff online.

And for a long time, it seemed nonthreatening. Remember, Google had the “Don’t be evil” slogan and they were kind of paddling around in their Crocs, building playgrounds for their employees and bespoke lunches and free kombucha on tap. There was the harmless vibe that seemed to be from Silicon Valley.

But I think there has always been a certain anti-government lean to a lot of the Silicon Valley movement — this idea that “we’re going to create structures outside of government.” The idea of getting out of authoritarian society, evading bad governments in the future: there were times when these ideas seemed like something people on the left could be into.

However, what’s happened is: these guys became super rich. And as they’ve become super super superrich, they’ve gone far, far, far to the right — and they’re pulling others now with them.

‘Freedom cities’ and governance by tech

All the way back in 2013, [Balaji Srinivasan, chief technology officer of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase] gave a speech at Y Combinatorin which he basically called for Silicon Valley to secede from the United States and to go start their own country and take all of their wealth and all of the brain power.

He continue[d] to develop these ideas over the next decade, and in 2022, released a book called The Network State — how to start a new country. This book lays out all the reasons why American democracy is an outdated system and why it needs to be replaced by new tech forms of governance. And there are two ways to do that: one is to leave the country by a territory and create your own sovereign state or city. You can do that within a country or by leaving a country. And the other way is to take over existing governments and convert them into tech-controlled governments.

This Tech-Backed Company Tried to Disrupt California’s Housing Crisis. It Couldn’t

My interest in this ideology started with SF politics — this effort by tech bros to take over City Hall, but also by the California Forever Project.

It wasn’t until I read a book by a historian named Quinn Slobodian called, Crack Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy, that I understood the idea there … for wealthy people to find a way to exit society and create their own sort of utopian countries that they control.

In 2024, Trump had a plan for something he calls the so-called “freedom cities,” which are these 10 new charter cities that would be built on federal land all around the United States. The newspapers have mentioned that Trump plans to “build freedom cities,” but no one has explained what that means: where the idea comes from or why we need them.

I think the “freedom cities” are really anti-freedom cities — a very Orwellian name for what would essentially be a corporate-controlled city.

A billboard for California Forever sits on top of an apartment building along I-80 in Vallejo on April 2, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

How does this all end?

A lot of people stayed home [and didn’t vote in the 2024 election.] And I think this is going to wake [Americans] up to the fact that you can’t stay home. We have to realize that there is a group of people who are avidly working against the public good and against the welfare and well-being of the majority.

I don’t think these [tech] guys have fully thought this out. I don’t think they realize — having been in politics myself — what it’s gonna feel like when you see that the majority of people are against you. I do think this ends with tens of millions of Americans taking to the streets on a regular basis to stand against what is an increasingly authoritarian regime in Washington. And I think that it also ends with a bunch of billionaires getting on planes to Moscow at midnight.

I think it’s important to understand it, to learn about it, and to tell others about it … Word of mouth is very important. People listen to their peers, to their friends, to their family members. That’s where a lot of people get their main political knowledge from.

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Campaign Committee Fundraising, 2023 - 2024

Leadership PAC: In the Arena PAC

Raised:

$3,776,306

Spent:

$3,280,619

Cash on hand:

$1,376,352

Debts:

LAST REPORT: 12/31/2024

Top Contributors, 2023 - 2024

Contributor	Total	Individuals	PACs
Bank Of New York Mellon	$50,000	$40,000	$10,000
Stephens Inc	$43,595	$36,995	$6,600
New York Life Insurance	$42,500	$32,500	$10,000
Coinbase	$38,000	$35,500	$2,500
Wells Fargo	$35,300	$25,300	$10,000

Top Industries, 2023 - 2024

Industry	Total	Individuals	PACs
Securities & Investment	$804,545	$501,145	$303,400
Commercial Banks	$349,000	$118,700	$230,300
Insurance	$329,100	$52,600	$276,500
Real Estate	$219,350	$75,350	$144,000
Retired	$209,270	$209,270	$0

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Campaign Committee & Leadership PAC Combined Fundraising, 2023 - 2024

Leadership PAC: In the Arena PAC

Raised:

$4,984,886

Spent:

$4,313,563

Cash on hand:

$1,599,927

Debts:

LAST REPORT: 12/31/2024

Top Contributors, 2023 - 2024

Contributor	Total	Individuals	PACs
Capital Group Companies	$70,000	$50,000	$20,000
Stephens Inc	$60,595	$48,995	$11,600
KKR & Co	$58,100	$58,100	$0
Coinbase	$55,500	$50,500	$5,000
New York Life Insurance	$55,000	$35,000	$20,000

Top Industries, 2023 - 2024

Industry	Total	Individuals	PACs
Securities & Investment	$1,205,572	$772,672	$432,900
Commercial Banks	$469,950	$133,650	$336,300
Insurance	$434,600	$57,600	$377,000
Real Estate	$337,350	$109,850	$227,500
Retired	$237,470	$237,470	$0

ggl 7 25

[### Crypto industry amasses colossal war chest for elections

Politico

https://www.politico.com › news › 2025/07/15 › crypto...](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/15/crypto-super-pacs-war-chest-key-house-votes-00452356)

1 day ago — Since the 2024 campaign ended, crypto firms have doubled down: The PAC network has raised $109 million since Election Day. The latest ...

A super PAC group funded by cryptocurrency companies will enter the upcoming midterm elections with more than $140 million in the bank, according to new fundraising data shared first with POLITICO — a mammoth sum that now looms large over an effort to pass industry-friendly legislation in the House this week.

The group, known as Fairshake, raised $52 million in the first half of 2025, piling onto an already huge sum of crypto campaign cash that could be wielded against lawmakers who oppose the industry’s Capitol Hill agenda — and boost the political fortunes of those who support it.

The PAC network’s fundraising highlights how top crypto firms are plowing ahead with a lobbying strategy that overtly uses political spending to get their way from Congress. The group includes three affiliated super PACs — Fairshake, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs — that collectively spent $135 million supporting industry allies and taking down crypto critics in Congressional races across the country last year.

Spending by the group in the 2024 campaigns helped take down key roadblocks to the industry’s policy agenda, including former Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown, who lost his Ohio re-election campaign to Republican Bernie Moreno — a crypto enthusiast who benefited from more than $40 million of crypto PAC spending. The PACs also boosted industry supporters in dozens of other House and Senate races across the country, including the California Democratic Senate primary and hotly-contested House races in Alabama, Arizona and Virginia.

Since the 2024 campaign ended, crypto firms have doubled down: The PAC network has raised $109 million since Election Day. The latest fundraising haul comes as the House is preparing to take up landmark crypto legislation this week that would help legitimize digital assets as mainstream financial products and craft bespoke new rules governing the sector.

“Fairshake is stronger than ever as we remain focused on our mission of building lasting support for crypto and blockchain innovation,” said Josh Vlasto, spokesperson for the PAC group. “We are building an aggressive, targeted strategy for next year to ensure that pro-crypto voices are heard in key races across the country.”

The PAC is primarily funded by three companies: the venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, which invests heavily in digital asset startups, and the crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple.

Fairshake’s latest fundraising haul includes $25 million donated by Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, along with previously announced contributions from Ripple Labs, Uniswap Labs, and the crypto entrepreneur Robert Leshner.

Coinbase’s chief policy officer, Faryar Shirzad, said in a statement that “crypto is already woven into America’s financial fabric,” and the company is “committed to fighting for the consumer protections and financial empowerment” that digital asset owners “deserve.”

The top Washington priority for the group’s top donors is a GOP-led crypto market structure bill expected to go to the House floor on Wednesday that seeks to create a first-ever crypto regulatory regime by divvying up oversight of digital assets between securities and commodities regulators.

Republicans leading the push for that bill are seeking to win over as many Democrats as they can ahead of the floor vote in order to show that the measure has political viability in the Senate, where bipartisan support is needed to clear a 60-vote threshold. A similar GOP-led proposal passed the House with 71 Democratic votes last year — as Fairshake was beginning to ramp up for the 2024 campaign — but concerns over the Trump family’s business entanglements in crypto may make matching that figure difficult this week.

Some Democrats are considering voting against the sweeping market structure measure but supporting a second, narrower crypto bill affecting so-called stablecoins that the House is expected to send to President Donald Trump’s desk on Thursday.

The crypto super PACs, though, have signaled that the vote breakdown on the broader bill, led by House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), will be their primary consideration as they weigh how to deploy their 2026 haul. The group spent more than $30 million benefiting House Democrats during the last campaign.

A non-profit dark money group that is affiliated with the Fairshake PACs called the Cedar Innovation Foundation said in a statement Monday that Hill’s so-called CLARITY Act is “the most important vote members will take this Congress.”

---

ggl 7 25

no lnx

Faryar Shirzad - Coinbase

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Experience: Coinbase · Education: Harvard Kennedy School · Location: United States · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Faryar Shirzad's profile on LinkedIn ...

Faryar Shirzad Joins Coinbase as Chief Policy Officer

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Former Goldman Sachs Global Co-Head of Government Affairs and former White House Deputy National Security Advisor, to Join Coinbase as Chief Policy Officer.

Faryar Shirzad 🛡️ (@faryarshirzad) / X

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Chief Policy Officer @Coinbase ... Faryar Shirzad 🛡️'s posts. Faryar Shirzad 🛡️.

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Faryar Shirzad is Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase, where he leads the company's engagement with policymakers around the world.