Crypto billionaire says he could spend a record-breaking $1 billion in 2024 election
WASHINGTON —Democratic billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried says he could spend $1 billion or more in the 2024 election, which would easily make him the biggest-ever political donor in a single election.
Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, said in a podcast interview released Tuesday that he expects to give «north of $100 million» in the next presidential election and has a «soft ceiling» of $1 billion, with his spending likely to be on the higher end if former President Donald Trump runs again.
That kind of money would be «in a league of its own,» said Alex Baumgart, a researcher with the campaign finance tracker Open Secrets.
Bankman-Fried, who is estimated to be worth more than $20 billion and says he has already given away more than $200 million to various causes, cautions that his political plans are still in flux and will be contingent on what the landscape looks like.
«I would guess north of $100 million. As for how much more than that, I don't know. It really does depend on what happens. It's really dependent on exactly who's running where for what,» he said on the Pushkin Industries podcast What's Your Problem. "[$1 billion] is a decent thing to look at as a — I would hate to say hard ceiling, because who knows what's going to happen between now and then — but at least sort of as a soft ceiling."
That amount of money would be unprecedented and shatter existing records several times over — at least if it was all spent as so-called «hard money,» which includes donations to candidates, parties, super PACs and other groups who have to report to the Federal Election Commission.
It's impossible to know how much other wealthy donors have spent to influence politics via so-called «dark
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