The Crypto-Cartel Has Learned How To Buy Both Political Parties— They Own Them Both Now

Along With ALL The Republicans Here Are 16 Dems Pushing Their Agenda

Like the pro-genocide groups that spend millions to keep the U.S. serving Israel’s interests before America’s interests, the crypto-cartel plays both sides of the aisle, showering their allies with millions of election dollars in return for blind obedience on crypto-related issues. Going all the way back to when Sam Bankman Fried led the cartel and became one of the 3 or 4 most profific political donors in the country, there was always a GOP-aligned bribery operation and a Democratic Party-aligned bribery operation. (Do you find it odd that Bankman Fried and some of his cronies are in jail for stealing billions and bribing members of Congress but not a single member of Congress was singed by the scandal? DC is such an amazing place!) Bankman Fried’s dual-track strategy— public donations to Democrats and mostly covert contributions to Republicans— allowed SBF and FTX to curry favor across the political spectrum. Although prosecutors only wound up proving that his cartel funneled over $100 million in stolen FTX customer funds into these political contributions— violating campaign finance laws by using straw donors like FTX executives Nishad Singh and Salame to evade contribution limits— that is just a fraction of what was used to buy influence in DC, the goal being to influence Congress and regulators to favor lenient crypto policies, such as empowering the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over the stricter Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A March 2022 letter from eight members of Congress, including Republicans like Tom Emmer and Democrats like Josh Gottheimer, criticized the SEC’s crypto investigations as “overburdensome,” echoing SBF’s lobbying priorities. Many of these lawmakers had received FTX-linked donations.

Don’t be bored with a little old history for those who haven’t followed along. When Bankman Fried was still the kingpin of the crypto operation to manipulate government, he and his cronies laid the blueprint for AIPAC-like bipartisan influence-peddling. Through FTX and related shell companies, he funneled more than $100 million in stolen funds into the 2022 midterm elections— roughly $40 million to Democratic-aligned groups and candidates and a nearly identical chunk, usually, but not always, routed through cronies like Ryan Salame, to GOP politicians and committees. You may recall that publicly, SBF and his crooked family pitched themselves as champions of pandemic prevention and technocratic progressivism. Privately, Bankman Fried admitted his image as a “woke” donor was just a front— a strategic posture meant to curry favor with Democrats while his Republican allies handled the other half of Washington. He had Salame and others greasing the wheels of Republican fundraising machinery, backing candidates who pledged fealty to crypto deregulation, no questions asked— like Tom Emmer, then NRCC chair, whose rise in House GOP leadership they financed. Bankman Fried’s operation even pushed shadowy dark money into super PACs that backed crypto-friendly Republicans in key primaries. From Mitch McConnell’s orbit to Chuck Schumer’s, the crypto industry built a parallel influence network, flooding campaign coffers and seeding think tanks, advocacy groups, and tech-friendly policy shops.

The collapse of FTX in November 2022 exposed crypto’s fraud— but it was just the FTX frat who took the fall for the whole industry, leading to Bankman Fried’s conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in 2023, with a 25-year prison sentence and $11 billion in forfeiture ordered in 2024. (Trump will pardon him but they are still working out the terms since Trump wants most of the stolen billions.) 

GOP chief whip Tom Emmer

With amazing speed that shocked me, after SBF’s empire imploded, the crypto-cartel barely missed a beat, Bankman Fried’s basic strategy surviving intact. By 2024, new players like Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini (led by the Winklevoss twins), and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) filled the void, raising over $80 million through their shady PACs— Fairshake, Protect Progress, and Defend American Jobs, again, targeting both parties, spending heavily to support pro-crypto candidates and oppose regulatory crackdowns. Notably, Fairshake’s lead strategist, Josh Vlasto, previously worked for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, underscoring the industry’s deep ties to Washington. Lobbyists tied to former Democratic staffers work hand-in-hand with ex-GOP operatives, united by one goal: kill or weaken any regulation that threatens the Wild West ethos of the blockchain economy. Whether it’s GOP crypto-criminals like Emmer, Patrick McHenry, Katie Britt and Cynthia Lummis or corporate Democrats like Kirsten Gillibrand, Josh Gottheimer and Ritchie Torres, the message is always the same: crypto is innovation, and oversight is tyranny. The cartel helped finance defeats for their enemies— like Katie Porter, Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester— and spent tens of millions to elect allies like Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT), David Valadao (R-CA), Shomari Figures (D-AL), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Shontel Brown (D-OH), Craig Goldman (R-TX), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Julie Johnson (D-TX), Young Kim (R-CA), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ)… 

Ritchie Torres should be sharing a cell with Sam Bankman Fried

So… what’s new? Yesterday, Ally Mutnick, Brendan Pedersen and Max Cohen reported that though the crypto-cartel spent over $10 million to defeat Mike Rogers (R) and elect crypto-shill Elissa Slotkin, a new GOP-aligned crypto-PAC, First Principles Digital, is ready to spend millions electing Rogers, first in his primary against Bill Huizenga and then against whichever Democrat emerges. The superPAC is “committing to a ‘multi-million-dollar’ campaign spend in the primary and general election,” they wrote. The executive director is Jason Thielman, former executive director of the NRCC and very aware that the GOP establishment wants to push Huizenger out of the race. Thielman “called Rogers ‘the type of pro-crypto champion we need in Washington. We are all-in on Mike. He’s the best choice and we want to see him in the U.S. Senate.”

They also noted that as vice chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Huizenga “has often mentioned his support for the crypto industry. It’s feasible he could have tapped into this kind of funding. Rogers has also expressed crypto support at least since 2024, telling Stand With Crypto during the election that policymakers “must ensure American innovation in crypto is not hampered by regulation while protecting consumers.”

Also yesterday, Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby alerted their readers that the paid off Democrats bought or rented  by the crypto-cartel are delivering for them now, for them and Trump! The cartel (and Trump) want to see Stablecoins legitimized and the legislative vehicle for that is the GENIUS Act. They wrote that “According to one industry analyst, if the GENIUS Act passes, the stablecoin industry could rise from $230 billion today to $2 trillion in 2028. Trump is poised to be one of the primary beneficiaries of that expansion because, although it only launched in March, [his] USD1 is already the fifth-largest stablecoin. But the GENIUS Act required Democratic support in the Senate to pass because it is subject to the filibuster. On May 8, Democrats unanimously blocked a cloture vote, with many demanding provisions to curtail Trump's corruption. After the failed May 8 vote, some tweaks to the bill were made, but nothing related to Trump's involvement in the stablecoin industry. Nevertheless, on May 19, 16 Democrats switched positions and voted to advance the legislation.”

The Senate Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with the GOP and the crypto-cartel:

• Angela Alsobrooks (MD)

• Lisa Rochester (DE)

• Cory Booker (NJ)

• Catherine Cortez Masto (NV)

• John Fetterman (PA)

• Ruben Gallego (AZ)

• Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)

• Maggie Hassan (NH)

• Martin Heinrich (NM)

• Ray Ray Lujan (NM)

• Jon Ossoff (GA)

• Alex Padilla (CA)

• Jacky Rosen (NV)

• Adam Schiff (CA)

• Elissa Slotkin (MI)

• Mark Warner (VA)

Legum and Crosby asked why Senate Democrats are “providing Trump an opportunity to make his corrupt crypto scheme even more profitable.” I would say some are cowards who are afraid the crypto-cartel with come after them; some want crypto-cash helping them in upcoming races and other have already taken big crypto-bribes and are on the payroll. Gallego, Slotkin, Schiff each got over $10 million in election help from the cartel. Gillibrand also benefited significantly from the cartel’s largesse, and has taken a leading position in advancing their agenda. 

Wouldn't you think that Minnesota voters in Anoka, Wright, Carver, Stearns and Sherburne counties would be ashamed of their congressman after this shameless performance and just stop voting for him already?