Circle donates $1m in USDC to President Trump’s inauguration

Circle, one of the biggest names in crypto, just handed over $1 million in USDC to ‘Crypto President’ Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.

CEO Jeremy Allaire thinks this shows how far digital dollars have come. “Circle has contributed $1M USDC to President Trump’s Inaugural Committee. We are excited to be building a great American company, and the fact that the Committee took payment in USDC is an indicator of how far we have come and the potential and power of digital dollars,” he announced.

Trump, now officially pro-crypto, has turned his inauguration into a showcase for blockchain-backed money, much like his campaign. Circle’s contribution is just the latest in a growing list of donations.

Big players pour cash into Trump’s inaugural fund

Google stepped up with its own $1 million. “Google is pleased to support the 2025 inauguration with a live stream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage. We’re also donating to the inaugural committee,” said Karan Bhatia, the company’s global head of government affairs.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta both dropped $1 million each late last year. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon also joined the list. But let’s be real: the crypto industry is leading this money train.

According to FEC data, crypto PACs and groups connected to the blockchain industry raised $245 million during the last election cycle. That’s nearly half of all corporate contributions, according to the watchdog group Public Citizen.

The Stand With Crypto Alliance, launched by Coinbase, even graded lawmakers to figure out which candidates deserved crypto cash and which needed to be shut down with aggressive ads.

It wasn’t just about lobbying after the elections. The crypto world went all-in to ensure pro-crypto lawmakers won seats. Nearly 300 lawmakers backing blockchain now sit in Congress, giving the industry unprecedented power to push its agenda.

Crypto giants make it rain

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, were among the top contributors. Together, they handed over $10.1 million. Ripple’s Chris Larsen went even bigger, dropping $12 million to support the right candidates.

Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, wasn’t far behind. He shelled out $1.3 million across various PACs, including Fairshake and JD Vance for Senate Inc. He also supported both Democrats and Republicans, proving crypto isn’t partisan.

Even Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal got involved. He showed up at two Trump fundraisers, including one in Nashville during a big-time Bitcoin event. Kraken’s chairman, Jesse Powell, made a $1 million donation.

And then there’s the rest of the crypto elite. Phil Potter, former Bitfinex strategy chief, donated $1.6 million. Kyle Samani of Multicoin Capital pitched in $878,600.

Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam added $735,400. The list keeps going: Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson gave $1.4 million, Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla contributed $198,500, and BitGo CEO Mike Belshe threw in $119,825.

Even Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana’s co-founder, jumped in with $67,100. The crypto industry has learned from Big Tech’s mistakes. Instead of trying to fix problems after elections, blockchain advocates targeted seats in Congress before the votes were even cast. They dumped cash into battleground states, supporting pro-crypto candidates and taking down opponents.

Stand With Crypto’s grading system made it simple: you were either with crypto or against it. The strategy worked. This isn’t the first time crypto has tried to influence politics, but this cycle was on another level.

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried tried to buy influence in previous cycles but failed spectacularly. Now serving 25 years for stealing $8 billion, he’s a reminder of exactly how NOT to do it.

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