Ripple's Garlinghouse Says 2024 Election Was a Chance to 'Educate Voters'

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse in an interview with 60 Minutes, said that the 2024 election was a "major victory" for crypto as the majority of Fairshake, a crypto political action committee (PAC), backed candidates, won their seats. And this was a non-partisan effort, as crypto, itself is non-partisan, he argued, pointing to the cross-aisle support for the digital assets bill FIT21.“Of the 29 Republicans and 33 Democrats the industry backed in congressional races, 85% won. It’s incredible,” he said. “We absolutely helped supercharge the candidates with the money in the coffers… That’s absolutely right,” he said, arguing that, like other industries, they took the electoral cycle as a chance to educate voters.“Do I think we had an impact to elect a Democratic senator in Michigan—Elissa Slotkin? Yes, absolutely. Do I think we had an impact in Arizona? A Democratic senator in Arizona, Gallego? Absolutely,” he continued.While Ripple-supported Fairshake was a non-partisan effort, one of the defining moments during the election was then-Republican candidate Donald Trump's embrace of crypto , which was a transformation from his prior stance where he said he was "not a fan".“I think it’s clear that Donald Trump embraced crypto and crypto embraced Donald Trump,” Garlinghouse said.