Winklevoss twins give out $4.9m to Fairshake crypto lobbying group

Founders of Gemini exchange, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, have donated $4.9 million to the Fairshake political action committee (PAC).

The Winklevoss twins have each donated $2.45 million to the Super PAC, according to the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Fairshake’s latest federal filings on Feb. 20. In total, it had $72.8 million in cash on hand at the end of the reporting period.

At the beginning of February, Fairshake, which actively supports politicians loyal to cryptocurrencies, raised $85 million. The most prominent sponsors were crypto industry giants Coinbase and Ripple.

According to PAC spokesman Josh Vlasto, Coinbase contributed $24.5 million. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong gave the PAC an additional $1 million. Ripple donated $20 million to Fairshake. Two venture capital firms, Andreessen Horowitz and Electric Capital, contributed $20 million and $500,000 respectively.

Fairshake describes itself as supporting candidates “committed to making the United States home to the innovators building the next generation of the Internet.” Fairshake supports not only presidential candidates but also regional politicians. The project recently allocated most funds to support the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee chairman, Patrick McHenry. However, the politician soon announced his retirement in 2025. It is not yet known whether he returned the funds to the fund.