Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple Labs, underscored the significance of engaging with candidates promoting pro-cryptocurrency policies, irrespective of political affiliations.

What Happened: Responding to an X post by the co-founder of the company, Chris Larsen, who announced donating $10 million in XRP XRP/USD for Kamala Harris‘ campaign, Garlinghouse said he respected everyone’s right to support candidates they liked.

“Ripple will continue to engage with both Democrats and Republicans in the final days of the campaigns (and after the election) to promote pro-crypto policies,” Garlinghouse stated, emphasizing the need for bipartisan backing to policies supporting innovation in the industry.

“We need to immediately change course from this administration’s misguided war on cryptocurrency,” he added.

Meanwhile, influential cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez poked fun at Chris Larsen’s continued financial support for Harris, saying, “May be XRP and XLM should be deemed securities after all!”

The cheeky remark was aimed at the ongoing legal battle between Ripple and SEC over the security status of XRP.

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Why It Matters: Larsen made three separate donations in September to Future Forward, the Super PAC backing Harris, totaling close to $10 million. This was on top of an earlier contribution of $1 million in XRP to the same PAC in August.

Interestingly, Ripple legal chief Stuart Alderoty donated $300,000 in XRP to a Donald Trump-supporting PAC called Trump 47 PAC, according to a recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.

The cryptocurrency industry has become a significant player in the 2024 U.S. election cycle. Crypto-linked political action committees (PACs) have contributed nearly $130 million to both Republican and Democratic candidates, focusing on key congressional races, according to CNBC.

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