Yesterday, MoonPay announced a one million dollar donation to the Stand With Crypto initiative of the crypto exchange Coinbase. 

The goal of the donation is to support the efforts of Stand With Crypto in this “crucial year for our industry”.

MoonPay’s donation in favor of the crypto exchange Coinbase

MoonPay has officially announced a donation “on behalf of everyone” to Stand With Crypto, a major non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together global supporters of cryptocurrencies.

The CEO of the company, Ivan Soto-Wright, commented on the initiative stating that in 2023 the crypto sector was put to the test harshly, and although the beginning of 2024 seemed to mark a new chapter, with the historic approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF in the USA, in recent weeks some companies that have represented some of the best aspects of the emerging crypto ecosystem have been subjected to increasing regulatory pressure.

Soto-Wright also explains the reason behind this MoonPay initiative. 

He declares that he believes that this year’s presidential elections will define the future of the crypto sector in the USA, and that it is the responsibility of crypto operators to step forward to stand alongside those organizations that want to promote this innovation positively for everyone.

So in addition to the donation, they will also support the officials who will be elected in creating a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that promotes innovation while also protecting consumers.

Coinbase exchange and the donation from the crypto company MoonPay

The official tweet announcing the donation from MoonPay was immediately commented on by Coinbase’s official account with an emoji that reflects the Stand With Crypto initiative logo, as a sign of appreciation. 

MoonPay is an American company based in the USA, just like Coinbase, which operates the largest American crypto exchange. 

Coinbase is also a publicly traded company, and is therefore the main American reference point for the crypto sector in the USA. 

Indeed, for years now it has been engaging in political lobbying activities to try to influence US policies regarding the crypto sector, although so far it does not seem to have achieved many results in this regard. 

Indeed, she has attracted the (negative) attention of the SEC, which has filed several complaints against Coinbase. 

However, the company is based solely and exclusively on crypto services, although not exclusively related to trading, so it is closely linked to the future of the sector in the USA. 

Stand With Crypto

Stand With Crypto is an initiative launched last year, when it was already known that the electoral campaign for the 2024 US presidential elections would soon begin.

So far they have raised over 87 million dollars in donations, coming from nearly 500,000 different sources. 

They declare to be a non-profit organization that supports the creation of clear and common-sense based standards for the cryptocurrency industry. 

Their goal is to mobilize a large part of the 52 million cryptocurrency owners in the USA, to unlock the innovation potential of this sector and promote greater economic freedom.

Among the corporate partners of this initiative, in addition to Coinbase and MoonPay, there are also Gemini, Blockchain.com, Paxos, LightSpark, dXdY, and others. 

On the official website of the initiative there is also a page specifically dedicated to the position of various US politicians towards cryptocurrencies. 

US Politics

The key issue of this initiative is precisely the support for the political regulation of the crypto sector. 

On the page dedicated to US politicians on the official website of Stand With Crypto, there are almost 100 politicians who are strong supporters of cryptocurrencies, including both Republicans and Democrats and independents, but with a clear Republican majority. 

There are also another hundred or so politicians in favor, although not great supporters. 

It is worth noting that those strongly opposed are only about thirty, and those simply opposed are less than ten. Among these, there is a clear democratic prevalence, with very few Republicans included in this list. 

The vast majority (many hundreds of politicians) are marked as “pending”, meaning it is not yet clear which side they are on. 

So overall, US policy seems to have not yet taken a clear position against or in favor of cryptocurrencies, while among those who have already taken a position, the supporters clearly prevail. 

Furthermore, the opponents are almost all democrats, and this once again makes it clear that the main obstacle to crypto regulation in the USA is the current democratic government of Joe Biden. 

If Biden were to be reconfirmed in November, it is possible that the situation from this point of view will not change, or perhaps even worsen. Instead, a return of Donald Trump could help the sector, given that lately he has clearly expressed support.

For now, with the current democratic presidency, the Stand With Crypto initiative has not proven to be very effective, so much so that at this moment its efforts could probably be primarily focused on supporting Republican candidates in the November elections. 

It remains to be seen what will happen from November onwards, and especially in 2025 when the new Congress will take office.