Coinbase and Ripple Funded PAC Drops $2M on Ads Opposing Digital Asset-Neutral Candidate

A political action committee (PAC) called Fairshake has spent over $2 million on ads opposing Democratic candidate Oliver Gilbert in Florida's 24th congressional district. The PAC, funded primarily by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, made the expenditures through an affiliate called Protect Progress.

No Democratic candidate in the primary appeared to have taken a strong position on digital assets before the PAC's involvement. However, Shevrin Jones, a Florida state senator and Democratic candidate, has completed a questionnaire with Stand With Crypto and earned a 'strongly supports' rating from the advocacy organization.

Gilbert reportedly said that 'Trump's tech billionaire buddies' were behind the ads, which included fake Miami Herald headlines unrelated to digital asset policy. A Fairshake spokesperson did not comment on the reason for the PAC expenditures but stated that the facts in their ad are true.