The CEO of cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, believes he would donate anywhere between $100 million and $1 billion during the 2024 United States presidential election campaign.
Donation for 2024 US Presidential Campaign
In a recent podcast interview with American Journalist Jacob Goldstein, SBF asserted that he would spend something “north of a $100 million.” When suggested if the upper bound figures of his donation would be around $1 billion, the exec said it was possible and called it a “soft ceiling.” He added,
“As for how much more than that, I don’t know. It really does depend on what happens. It’s really dependent on exactly who’s running where for what (..) Yeah, I think that’s a decent thing to look at, as a sort of…I would hate to say hard ceiling, but at least as sort of a soft ceiling, I would say, yeah.”
It is worth noting that SBF, a relative newcomer to political spending, made the second-largest donation to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, giving $5.2 million. Biden’s campaign received $79.5 million from his top 100 donors, as opposed to Donald Trump’s $75 million.
More recently, the crypto executive donated over $10 million to support Carrick Flynn, a candidate in a Democratic primary for a congressional seat in Oregan. However, the candidate lost by a significant margin.
Political Action Committee (PAC) Spendings
The FTX CEO had reportedly spent $16 million on politics outside spending groups in April this year. Out of the total amount, $10 million went to Protect Our Future, while the rest of $6 million was given to the House Majority PAC, which is connected to the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As per Bloomberg, the exec has spent as high as $31.5 million in this election cycle so far.
Going forward, Bankman-Fried said his top priority is pandemic preparedness beyond his political spending. When asked if part of what he wants from the political donation is some particular outcome in crypto regulation, he said “that is not a big part of it,” without divulging more details.