Washington DC. Source: TripAdvisor
American politics has been historically partisan, but crypto may start bringing new changes. As the midterm election is approaching, digital asset firms and organizations are ramping up their lobbying machine, betting heavily on pro-crypto candidates who could potentially bring favorable policies to the industry. The Financial Freedom PAC vows to create an “orange wave” in Washington by 2024.
In Ohio’s primary election, bitcoin proponent Josh Mandel was the only one of the four candidates endorsed by the Financial Freedom PAC, a political action committee primarily funded by FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). The organization is dedicated to campaigning for pro-crypto political candidates and getting them into Washington.
Mandel, however, lost the bid to J.D Vince – another “bitcoiner” backed by the Billionaire bitcoin bull Peter Thiel, who donated $3.5 million to the Protect Ohio Values Super PAC, reported by Bloomberg on April 20th. The GOP candidate reportedly has held roughly 6.5 BTC at the time of writing.
Besides Mandel, Rep. Shontel Brown has also received support from the Financial Freedom PAC, which led to fiery criticism from her progressive challenger Nina Turner who claimed that Brown had put Cleveland on sale.
Oregon is another battlefield the group has poured massive capital into – spending over $7 million trying to get Democratic candidate Carrick Flynn elected as the congressman for the 6th district. The organization, which has demonstrated support for both Democratic and Republican candidates, claims “we’re not shy, as an industry, to say and support what we value, and that includes political giving.”
The Financial Freedom PAC’s ambition is much more than the midterm election. One of the group’s founders, Grant McCarty, set the goal for the upcoming election, saying that getting “one bitcoin advocate into Congress in November” is enough to be seen as a win for the industry, as he is already eyeing the elections in 2024.
Believing pro-crypto sentiments soon to be adopted in Washington in the coming years, McCarty noted, “In 2024, I truly think we’re going to see an orange wave on Washington.”