Update: May 15, 06:30 UTC: Coinbase has asked us to clarify that MoonPay is a grassroots organization independent of Coinbase rather than their organization. Stand With Crypto has also clarified that the donation went to Stand with Crypto’s c4 effort to help build and mobilize crypto advocates, not Stand with Crypto’s PAC. They are not eligible to give to the PAC as only members of Stand with Crypto can give to the PAC in limits of up to $5,000.
Cryptocurrency payment firm MoonPay has contributed an undisclosed amount to nonprofit crypto advocacy project, Stand With Crypto.
“This morning, we made a donation on behalf of everyone here at MoonPay to Stand With Crypto,” MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright announced on May 13. The donation went to Stand with Crypto’s c4 effort to help build and mobilize crypto advocates.
The executive emphasized that the upcoming United States presidential election will define the future of the cryptocurrency industry in the country, and it’s people’s responsibility to step up to advance crypto. He stated:
“In solidarity with Stand With Crypto, we are supporting elected officials to create a clear regulatory framework for crypto that fosters innovation while protecting consumers.”
The donation by MoonPay, the details of which were shared with Cointelegraph, comes just a few days after the Stand With Crypto project — which Coinbase helped launch in August 2023 — revealed it had launched a political action committee (PAC) for roughly 450,000 members to contribute to candidates running in the 2024 U.S. elections.
“The goal is to endorse candidates and support candidates that are protecting the rights of our advocates of Stand With Crypto throughout November,” Stand With Crypto chief strategist Nick Carr reportedly said.
Stand With Crypto’s latest PAC on pro-crypto political candidates comes a few months after Coinbase launched the project in November 2023.
Coinbase’s decision to launch such an initiative was natural, as the company has been actively trying to find a dialogue with financial regulatory authorities in the United States.
Related: House expected to vote on crypto bill offering SEC, CFTC clarity in May
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase in June 2023, alleging that the crypto exchange violated federal securities laws by listing 13 tokens it argues are securities. After achieving some success in its long-running legal battle with the SEC in April 2024, Coinbase faced a new lawsuit over alleged investor deception in May.
Coinbase’s growing efforts to support cryptocurrency-friendly politicians have reached another milestone in the company’s developing relationship with politics.
Back in 2020, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong expressed the company’s stance on global politics, praising the “apolitical culture” at Coinbase.
“We don’t advocate for any particular causes or candidates internally that are unrelated to our mission, because it is a distraction from our mission. Even if we all agree something is a problem, we may not all agree on the solution,” Armstrong wrote about four years ago.
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