Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple, has taken a different path from many in the cryptocurrency industry by supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
He believes her tech background and practical approach will lead to clearer policies for the crypto industry, unlike the harmful regulations from SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
Larsen chose Kamala over Trump because he believes Trump’s policies could worsen chaos in the cryptocurrency industry. He views Trump’s approach as lacking understanding of tech, which could harm American companies.
He recently gave $1 million worth of XRP tokens to Future Forward, a super PAC that supports Harris, whereas most cryptocurrency executives have donated millions to Donald Trump’s campaign.
His decision to support Harris is rooted in her Bay Area background and what he sees as her deep understanding of the innovation economy. He notes that Harris has been around people in the tech world her entire life, giving her a fundamental grasp that the Biden administration lacked, particularly in connecting the empowerment of workers with ensuring American companies lead their industries.
Larsen has always had faith in Harris. He contributed $100,000 to the Harris Action Fund PAC and $6,600 personally to her campaign earlier this year. He has contributed roughly $1.9 million to her campaign overall.
Larsen, with a net worth of $3.1 billion from his role at Ripple and ownership of XRP, is part of a growing crypto industry that’s playing a big role in political fundraising. However, much of the industry’s support has been for Republicans, with almost half of the corporate donations coming from crypto companies, according to a report from Public Citizen.
Most of the crypto donations have gone to backing Republicans or opposing Democrats. Former President Donald Trump has received over $4 million in virtual tokens and even spoke at a major Bitcoin conference in Nashville this year.
Larsen believes Harris could provide a more pragmatic approach to the crypto industry than SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Larsen criticized Gensler for creating chaos with his aggressive regulations, which he argues have empowered riskier foreign operations and harmed the domestic industry.
Despite Chris Larsen’s donations to Democrats, including $1 million to Governor Josh Shapiro, many in the crypto community are skeptical about Kamala Harris’s candidacy. This concern was voiced on social media, where some questioned her potential policies if elected.
However, Larsen dismissed these criticisms, saying he doesn’t pay attention to social media.
