FTX founder spends record amount on US election campaign

Sam Benkman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has donated a record-breaking $ 39.2 million to the US election campaign. The generous donations helped Benkman-Fried become one of the largest campaign contributors.

Thus, the FTX CEO became the second largest donor to the Democratic Party, ahead of only George Soros. As for where the Bankman-Fried funds went: $ 27 million went to Protect Our Future, $ 6 million to Democratic candidates, and $ 2 million to crypto-friendly candidates.

There is no doubt that $ 39.2 million is a significant amount, but given the ambitions of FTX CEO to spend $ 1 billion on the campaign for the next US presidential election, the previous figure does not seem too high. Back in late May, on the podcast «What's Your Problem?» Bankman-Fried said that he could invest about $ 100 million in the campaign, and the maximum amount of his donations could reach $ 1 billion.

In early October, Sam Bankman-Fried took back his words about a billion, calling it a «foolish statement.» «It's a bad quote. I think sometimes my statements are reckless and inconsistent,» Bankman-Fried admitted in an interview with Morning Money.

Perhaps in a few months, the FTX owner will also call his statements Coinbase-2/">about buying Coinbase rash. During the Tech Live conference organized by the Wall Street Journal, Bankman-Fried emphasized that his exchange has long been looking for new sources of growth and diversification of funding — the acquisition of Coinbase can significantly improve the situation and expand the audience of FTX. And in March 2022, the FTX parent was ready to buy Twitter.