Chris Larsen, the co-founder of Ripple, has publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for the U.S. presidency. Chris joined 87 other top executives from corporate America in signing a letter that basically says, “Yeah this is our girl!”
Some of the high-profile CEOs in the letter include Aaron Levie from Box, Jeremy Stoppelman from Yelp, Michael Lynton, the chairman of Snap, Inc, and James Murdoch, the former CEO of 21st Century Fox.
Also, Lynn Forrester de Rothschild, a noted philanthropist, and José Feliciano, a private equity billionaire, have come out in support. Joining them are Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and Ted Leonsis, who owns the Washington Wizards, Mystics, and Capitals.
The letter also features many familiar Democratic political donors. John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, Deven Parekh from Insight Partners, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, former chairman of Walt Disney Studios, all signed on.
Some of these individuals have been long-time supporters of Kamala, dating back to her time in California politics. Notable figures like Laurene Powell Jobs, Dustin Moskovitz, and even NBA legend Magic Johnson have also all thrown their weight behind her.
Tony James, the former president of Blackstone, and Bruce Heyman from Goldman Sachs are also backing Kamala.
Peter Orszag, now CEO of Lazard, and Steve Westly, managing director of the Westly Group and a former Tesla board member, are among the more than a dozen Wall Street figures who have signed on.
Silicon Valley, unsurprisingly, also makes its presence felt. Big names like Ron Conway, entrepreneur Mark Cuban, and Reid Hoffman, the former CEO of LinkedIn, are all in Kamala’s corner.
While the vice president has never taken a public stance on crypto, her campaign has started accepting cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase’s Commerce platform.
Chris’s backing is part of this trend where crypto leaders are getting really involved in American politics. Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, has publicly backed Kamala too.
Fundraisers tied to the VP’s campaign are already targeting the crypto community. A Washington fundraiser is expected to bring in $100,000.
Coinbase has also increased its policy spending in Washington, as they see this moment as a critical one for the future of crypto regulations. Alesia Haas, the company’s CFO, said that the company sees a “huge opportunity” for driving crypto-friendly legislation under Kamala.
Kamala’s campaign pulled in a massive $361 million in August alone. That’s more than twice what Trump’s campaign managed to raise in the same period, with his total coming in at $130 million.
By the end of August, Kamala had $404 million in cash on hand, putting her $109 million ahead of Trump.
