"President Trump raises about $420 million ahead of the midterms… crypto industry expands backing"

As the US midterm elections approach, President Donald Trump and his associates have raised large sums of political money, and an analysis suggests that the crypto (digital asset) industry is emerging as a major source of support.

According to the UK’s Financial Times (FT) on the 3rd, Trump and his allies have secured a total of $429 million in political contributions over the past year for the midterms. It is the largest amount ever recorded for a midterm-election year. A significant share is said to have come from the crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.

The report said that the super PAC run by Trump’s associates, MAGA Inc, currently holds $304 million in funds. This is larger than any political action committee has held in a past midterm-election year. The FT analyzed that the Trump administration’s consistently favorable policy stance toward the crypto industry has been a key factor in attracting large-scale donations.

The Trump administration has been viewed as maintaining an industry-friendly approach through deregulation, closing investigations, and backing pro-crypto legislation. The explanation is that this policy direction translated into political funding from crypto companies and investors.

Among disclosed donations, the largest single contribution came from the crypto trading platform Crypto.com. The company is shown to have donated $30 million to MAGA. It was investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during the Biden administration, but the matter was closed last year.

In addition, prominent figures in the venture capital industry joined the donor ranks. Two co-founders of a major venture capital firm donated $3 million each, and the co-founder of an AI company and the spouse were tallied as having contributed a total of $25 million.

The FT assessed that "President Trump has become a central figure within the Republican camp in drawing in crypto money."