As we inch closer to the US election, the crypto space is getting more volatile in the face of the latest developments. The latest addition to this is Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen donating XRP tokens to Kamala Harris’ Presidential campaign.
The national polls suggest that Vice President Kamala Harris could have a slight edge over former US President Donald Trump as 48.2% of people are in her favour compared to Trump's 46.4%. Meanwhile, Polymarket forecasted Trump as the winner in the US presidential elections causing a surge in crypto prices on Monday, October 21.
By and large, the crypto industry is behind Trump for his pro-crypto stance such as DeFi, NFTs etc compared to Harris’ regulatory stance. This was further enhanced by the former US President launching the WLFI token sale last week.
So, Chris Karsen’s support for Kamala Harris has stunned the crypto world. The Ripple founder is donating $10 million worth of XRP to the Kamala Harris campaign ahead of the US election.
“It’s time for the Democrats to have a new approach to tech innovation, including crypto. I believe @KamalaHarris will ensure that American technology dominates the world, which is why I’m donating $10M in XRP in support of her.” Larsen tweeted on October 21.
This has prompted Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse to say that the company still supports both parties as we head to the US election and he respects Larsen's personal choice. The CEO further explained that Ripple will continue to engage with both parties even after the US election to promote pro-crypto policies.
“It’s not about party lines; it’s about championing policies that drive blockchain and crypto innovation,” said Garlinghouse.
Kamala Harris was initially not into wooing the crypto industry but she warned up to it last week when she spoke in favour of a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework to protect “black men and others” who participate in the market.
However, despite the assurance from Ripple CEO, most crypto users on social media platform X are considering Chris Larsen’s donation to Kamala Harris campaign inappropriate. The crypto community thinks that Trump winning the US election will help resolve issues between the SEC and Ripple as he has said he will sack the chairman Gary Gensler.
Earlier this week, the SEC launched a Pre-Argument appeal against Ripple in a case that they have been fighting for 4 years now. The agency had appealed in 2023 to extend the lawsuit for a few years which led to a decline in XRP during that time. However, this week XRP is surging to $0.56 despite the SEC’s appeal.
As of October 22, XRP is trading at $0.5332, losing 2.37% in the last 24 hours with the same percentage loss in market capitalization which stands at $30.24 billion while its trading volume is $1.09 billion (down by 18.93%).