Yesterday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pledged another $25 million to the crypto super PAC Fairshake, bringing the company’s total spending in the 2024 election up to more than $76 million. Public Citizen, along with researcher and author Molly White, submitted a complaint to the FEC in August alleging that a large portion of these contributions are illegal because Coinbase is a federal contractor (and federal law bars campaign contributions to political parties, committees, or candidates from federal contractors). The FEC has not yet responded.

Public Citizen research director Rick Claypool released the following statement in response to the news: “Coinbase has spent more than $50 million in what appears to be illegal campaign contributions from a federal contractor to attack candidates who might stand up to Big Crypto; meanwhile, the FEC is snoozing through the election. The time to hold campaign finance violators accountable is now — not after illegal election spending has corrupted our democracy.”