The Federal Election Commission published a list of donors to Donald Trump’s inauguration committee, and there were big-money donations from crypto betting sites.
The list of donors with ties to the crypto and betting industries included:
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Ripple Labs: Donated $4.9 million, making it the second-largest overall contributor.
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Robinhood Markets: Contributed $2 million.
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Coinbase: Donated $1 million.
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Kraken (Payward Inc.): Contributed $1 million.
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Circle: Donated $1 million.
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Crypto.com: Contributed $1 million.
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Galaxy Digital: Donated $1 million.
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Solana Labs: Contributed $1 million.
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Paradigm Operations: Donated $1 million.
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DraftKings: Donated $502,000.
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FanDuel: Contributed $482,000.
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Yuga Labs: Contributed $100,000.
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Consensys Software: Donated $100,000.
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Cypherium Blockchain: Contributed $125,000
In total, Trump raised $239 million, more than double his first inauguration, which itself was a new record.
Trump to repay the favors
The donors will be hoping for favorable regulations to allow crypto and betting to thrive under Trump. The President declared he wanted to make the US “crypto capital of the planet”.
This week, Trump Media signed an agreement with Crypto.com to launch ETFs tracking crypto and securities. Crypto.com is under legal scrutiny for its sports event contracts along with Kalshi and Robinhood.
Crypto.com and Robinhood will hope their substantial donations grant them favors in federal courts that could decide on the future of the markets.
Kalshi has been the main trendsetter in the prediction markets, but Crypto.com is not far behind and started offering sports event contracts this year. They were initially told by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to stop the markets, but have pressed ahead and recently expanded into NBA match winner markets.
Kalshi has done the same, despite legal opposition. They are helped by having a Trump on their team. Donald Trump Jr. joined the company as a strategic advisor in January this year.
He announced on social media, “On Election night at Mar-a-Lago, while biased outlets called the race a coin toss, my family and close friends used the prediction market Kalshi to know we won hours ahead of the fake news media. I immediately knew I had to contribute to their mission.”
Crypto betting sites to benefit
Prediction markets and crypto betting sites will hope the legal loophole they have been operating in continues to allow them to attract users.
Ripple (XRP) at $4.9 million was the second-largest donor behind Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation at $5 million. XRP’s fast transaction times, low fees, and enhanced privacy make it an attractive option for online casinos.
State regulators have been clamping down on unregulated platforms that allow crypto deposits, but if Trump is on their side, the industry will likely continue to boom.
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