A key executive at Ripple, the company that issues the XRP cryptocurrency, is among those who signed a letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
As CNBC reported on September 6, Ripple co-founder and chairman Chris Larsen signed a letter endorsing Harris for president.
The report cited a letter signed by 88 corporate executives across the United States, naming other high-profile signatories including Aaron Levy, co-founder and CEO of enterprise cloud company Box; Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman; Snap chairman Michael Linton; and former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch.
In early August, Gene Sperling, a former Ripple board member, left the White House to join Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.
Cointelegraph reached out to Ripple for comment regarding this endorsement, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Former Ripple Board Member Joins Harris Campaign
The news comes shortly after Gene Sperling, a former Ripple board member, left the White House in early August to join Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.
Spurring joined Ripple’s board in 2015 and served as an economic adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and has served as an economic adviser to President Joe Biden’s administration since 2021.
Spurring isn’t the only adviser with a crypto background who has moved to support Harris’s campaign. David Plouffe, a former adviser to Binance and cryptocurrency payment provider Alchemy Pay, has also joined Harris’ presidential campaign, Politico reported on August 2.
Sperling (left) and former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at Ripple’s Swell conference in 2017. Source: Forbes
Ripple CEO Predicts SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Will Resign No Matter Who Wins Election
As the US presidential election approaches in November, many experts predict that the election results will have a significant impact on the cryptocurrency industry.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse reportedly predicted that key cryptocurrency regulators, including U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, will have to resign regardless of who wins the election.
While the potential impact of this election on the cryptocurrency market is still unknown, the cryptocurrency industry appears to have become a valuable tool for presidential candidates in the ongoing campaign.
relevant: XRP Advocate John Deaton Wins Republican Senate Primary
On August 5, a Harris campaign spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the candidate would be accepting campaign donations in cryptocurrency through her Future Forward political action committee. U.S. presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized his support for cryptocurrencies, promising to “make the United States the world capital for crypto and bitcoin.”
More industry executives have expressed their support for the U.S. presidential candidates.
Ripple co-founder Larsen isn’t the only high-profile cryptocurrency executive to voice support for a U.S. presidential candidate.
In June, ARK Invest CEO Cathy Wood, who is very bullish on Bitcoin long-term, publicly supported Trump in the election, saying she would vote for “whoever will do the best for our economy.”
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, previously co-founders of cryptocurrency trading platform Gemini, pledged to donate $1 million worth of Bitcoin to Trump’s re-election campaign.
Donald Trump and twins Tyler Winklevoss. Source: Tyler Winklevoss
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