- Donald Trump’s marketing campaign began accepting crypto donations in Could.
- However he’s raised solely $59,000 in crypto, an evaluation confirmed.
Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign made waves final month when it started accepting crypto donations.
That call simply paid off: Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, founders of crypto alternate Gemini, each said they donated 15.47 Bitcoin, value about $1 million, to the Trump marketing campaign.
However the record of Trump’s different crypto donors is considerably brief.
The Trump marketing campaign has raised lower than $60,000 in crypto from simply 218 donors, in accordance to an analysis of blockchain knowledge by way of June 17 performed by Breadcrumbs, a blockchain analytics agency.
The $59,385 in crypto contains solely property that might be tracked on Ethereum, Polygon, and Base, the blockchains the Trump marketing campaign is utilizing to settle for donations, in accordance to Breadcrumbs knowledge analyst James Delmore.
”Yeah, $59,000 is nothing,” Delmore stated, including that almost all of crypto donations have been probably on Coinbase order books. “Donating onchain shouldn’t be simple.”
Fundraising prowess
The meagre haul belies the previous president’s fundraising prowess: By way of his marketing campaign raised greater than $260 million, in accordance to OpenSecrets data by way of April 30 and a Trump marketing campaign announcement detailing fundraising in Could.
Exterior teams supporting Trump raised greater than $123 million.
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Trump, who threw his weight behind crypto last month, isn’t the primary pro-crypto presidential candidate.
Third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. began accepting donations in Bitcoin final yr.
Trump is, nonetheless, the primary nominee from one of many nation’s two main political events to settle for crypto.
I additionally simply donated $1 million in bitcoin (15.47 BTC) to @realDonaldTrump and might be voting for him in November.
Right here’s the TL;DR — President Trump is:
Professional-Bitcoin
Professional-Crypto
Professional-EnterpriseAnd he’ll put an finish to the Biden Administration’s battle on crypto. Onward! https://t.co/r6iDP7BdbE
— Cameron Winklevoss (@cameron) June 20, 2024
President Joe Biden is considering turning into the second, The Block reported final week.
“That is the official starting of crypto donations,” Delmore stated.
To tally Trump’s onchain fundraising, Delmore made $1 donations on Ethereum, Polygon, and Base, after which tracked the circulation of that crypto to its closing vacation spot: a Coinbase deposit deal with.
And pro-crypto political motion committee FairShake has a battle chest of some $100 million, filings show.
Different donations
However the former president’s $59,000 haul in crypto doesn’t embrace donations made through Coinbase, the centralised alternate chosen to facilitate the marketing campaign’s crypto donations.
It additionally doesn’t embrace donations made on recently-added choices Gemini and Anedot, a platform that enables folks to make crypto donations.
The Trump marketing campaign didn’t return a request for remark.
‘Crypto military’
Lower than two weeks after Trump positioned himself because the crypto candidate within the US presidential election, he started accepting crypto donations.
“Biden surrogate Elizabeth Warren stated in an assault on cryptocurrency that she was constructing an ‘anti-crypto military’ to limit Individuals’ proper to make their personal monetary decisions,” the marketing campaign said on the time.
“MAGA supporters, now with a brand new cryptocurrency choice, will construct a crypto military transferring the marketing campaign to victory on November fifth!”
How crypto is donated
Delmore described how donations have been processed: good contracts on every blockchain used Uniswap, a decentralised crypto alternate, to swap the donated cryptocurrency for USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin.
By way of June 17, 117 wallets donated a mixed $11,323.87 value of USDC to the Trump marketing campaign on the Base blockchain.
One other 92 wallets donated $27,459.61 value of USDC to the Trump marketing campaign on Polygon, and a mere 9 wallets on Ethereum donated $20,601.90 value of USDC.
Delmore attributed that to Ethereum’s notoriously excessive transaction charges — his $1 donation incurred a $24 price, he stated.
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi Correspondent at DL News. Obtained a tip? Electronic mail at aleks@dlnews.com.