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Cryptocurrency companies have been spending to promote their enterprises. The value of crypto rises and then crashes, then rises, then crashes, then becomes the center of a scandal and then goes on. And amid it all, promoters have been buying celebrity-filled Super Bowl TV ads for crypto. They've been buying naming rights for arenas, and now, they're trying to buy candidates in elections - or, put more politely, donating to a public cause. The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen says almost half of all corporate money contributed to this year's campaigns - almost half has come from crypto backers. Rick Claypool wrote that report, and spoke with Leila Fadel.
RICK CLAYPOOL: The scale of this spending is unprecedented. I mean, it's not the first time the crypto sector has spent a great deal in elections.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Yeah.
CLAYPOOL: The former CEO of FTX, now a convicted felon, Sam Bankman-Fried, was a very prolific contributor to elections over the past couple of cycles. But, you know, that was on an individual level, and not at the scale that we're seeing now.
FADEL: Are they spending across the board, depending on candidate's policies? I mean, where's the money going?
CLAYPOOL: So that's part of what's unique about what the crypto sector is doing, is saying, we are just going to amass this huge super PAC pile of cash, and we are going to spend that toward candidates who we think will advance the policies that we like, regardless of party. They have already been intervening in the primaries. Largely, they spent $10 million against Katie Porter in her primary in California. They spent millions against Jamaal Bowman in New York, and they also spent millions backing Jim Justice in West Virginia. Now, they have pledged that they're going to support 18 candidates for the House - nine Republicans and nine Democrats. That has infuriated people on both sides, but it's been a strategy that has resulted in lawmakers softening their positions.
FADEL: So aren't they just doing American politics? I mean, when you think about the ways that pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies - I mean, different organizations that have a one issue in mind - pay into politics to get influence.
CLAYPOOL: This is part of the core of the Citizens United problem, right? So Citizens United was a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited spending by corporations, as long as they're not coordinating directly with candidates. And that gave rise to these vehicles like, you know, super PACs, which just can, you know, amass these funds and then spend them for, you know, candidates.
FADEL: How do you anticipate this type of political contribution - this scale of money directly from corporations like these - impacts these elections, and how does that evolve over time?
CLAYPOOL: Well, every corporate sector is watching this. I mean, this is a different strategy than what we have seen other, you know, corporations engaging in. And the success means that this could well be duplicated by any corporate sector, whether it's the, you know, fossil fuel companies or pharmaceutical companies or insurance companies. You know, right now, they are really taking advantage of the great deal of leverage that they have because of the very slim majorities in the, you know, House and Senate, and they're using it. And in doing so, they're doing real damage to our democracy.
FADEL: When you say it could destroy the democracy, what does that mean?
CLAYPOOL: Yeah, I mean, it's doing great damage, because instead of saying, well, we're going to help elect Democrats, or, we're going to help elect Republicans, they are just saying, we're going to organize this super PAC that is solely about advancing the interest of crypto corporations. We're going to raise over $100 million from crypto corporations. And we're going to let this loom over the election like a corporate Death Star that says, OK, if you are going to advance the policies that our sector likes, we're going to help you, and if you take positions that we oppose, we're going to try to end your political career.
FADEL: A small group of people with a lot of money manipulating elections.
CLAYPOOL: Indeed.
FADEL: Rick Claypool's recent report from Public Citizen is titled "Big Crypto, Big Spending." Rick, thank you for your time.
CLAYPOOL: Thank you Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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