Organizers of Stand With Crypto say the advocacy group is directing a wave of crypto-interested voters toward shifting digital assets policy in the U.S.
In about 10 months since launching, the organization has gathered millions in donations and also started its own political action committee to influence individual races.
Stand With Crypto, a digital assets advocacy group backed by Coinbase Inc., said it signed up its first million members as of Wednesday.
The rapidly growing online band of crypto boosters maintains grades on U.S. politicians (as Coinbase once did), sets up public events to highlight digital assets issues and has recently established a political action committee (PAC) to engage directly with candidates. Membership in the organization is as simple as a quick online signup, and the list allows anonymity, though Chief Strategist Nick Carr said the vast majority have given physical addresses.
“One million advocates from across state and political lines are sending a clear message to Washington. Crypto is a frontline issue, and we have the numbers to back it up,” Carr said in a statement.
The website for the group, which was established in August of last year, said it’s collected millions in donations and aims to use that money to mobilize U.S. crypto enthusiasts toward political outcomes that favor the technology.
“Stand With Crypto surpassed its goal of one million Stand With Crypto advocates faster than ever imagined,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who is also among the group’s leading donors, in a statement. “With exactly five months until the general election, crypto voters are not taking their foot off the gas.”
The crypto industry has taken an increasingly serious role in political advocacy this year, pumping more than $160 million into a campaign-finance effort that rivals major industries (and even the political parties’ own congressional war chests). It has also anonymously supported at least one political organization, the Cedar Innovation Foundation, to apply pressure on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), whose Senate Banking Committee has so far failed to take up major crypto legislation.
Two recent industry-sponsored surveys conducted by Harris Polls found a large number of voters seem interested in candidates’ crypto views. In the most recent one, one-third of voters said they’ll consider views on digital assets before making candidate decisions. However, another poll of swing state voters suggested that as many as 69% of them had negative views of cryptocurrency.
