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Coinbase and a16z donate $78 million to crypto-friendly PAC for 2026 election

chandankumarsoft — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:44:08 +0000

A day before the US general election, crypto corporations have already poured tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars into the upcoming 2026 cycle. Crypto-friendly and nonpartisan super PAC Fairshake said Monday that the committee and its affiliates have raised $78 million for the 2026 midterm elections.

That $78 million is spread across greater than $30 million raised, plus one other $48 million in latest commitments from centralized crypto exchanges Coinbase and Silicon Valley enterprise fund Andreessen Horowitz, amongst other corporations.

Earlier Monday, a16z general partner Chris Dixon, who leads the fund's crypto book, said published a note It explains why the corporate donated a further $23 million to Fairshake.

“Regardless of what happens in the 2024 election, we are committed to supporting policymakers, regardless of party affiliation, who will work to create a practical regulatory framework that protects consumers while enabling the industry to grow,” it said within the letter.

Dixon added that “supporting a PAC like Fairshake is just a critical part of the strategy needed to achieve our larger policy goals” and that a16z will proceed to fulfill with policymakers on either side of the aisle to advocate for the industry to make use of.

In total, a16z has donated $70 million to Fairshake because the VC looks to support the PAC's larger mission of constructing a Congress of pro-cryptocurrency lawmakers.

On Wednesday, Coinbase announced it will donate a further $25 million to Fairshake.

Coinbase, the most important U.S. crypto exchange, has been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations it engaged in unregistered securities sales. It is amongst Fairshake's top contributors this cycle. The exchange has donated greater than $75 million to Fairshake and its affiliated PACs.

“We know we need to pass pro-crypto legislation in this country,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in the course of the third-quarter earnings call. Shares of Coinbase plunged 15% after the corporate reported declines in sales and profits.

Ripple Labs is one other major political donor this cycle, having donated around $50 million to Fairshake. A spokesperson said the corporate has committed $25 million each this 12 months and last and intends to stay a powerful force in D.C. for years to come back.

Fairshake told CNBC it raised about $170 million and paid out about $135 million this cycle.

The majority of the group's funding comes from Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs. The remainder comes from a combination of corporations and individual donors. Armstrong, for instance, donated $1 million, while the Winklevoss twins contributed $5 million.

Launched last 12 months by a consortium of crypto firms, Fairshake is one in every of the top-spending PACs in 2024, even in comparison with oil corporations and banks which were big political donors previously. Almost half of all corporate money flowing into the election comes from the crypto industry. in line with a report from the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen.

Fairshake's spending, targeting House and Senate elections within the 2024 cycle, is effective. Public Citizen's report found that of the 42 primaries that raised money from crypto-funded super PACs, 36 were won by the candidate backed by the crypto industry.

Fairshake's corporate and individual donors need to see crypto laws passed within the US

Dixon and others say they’re looking for comprehensive laws in the marketplace structure for digital assets and a law to control stablecoins, tokens pegged to the worth of a real-world asset and now virtually synonymous with coins pegged to the U.S. dollar are.

“Many industries are coming to DC asking for rules to be rolled back, and we have come to DC asking to put them in place,” Dixon wrote in his post Monday.

image credit : www.cnbc.com

Ben Horowitz says he plans to donate to Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign

chandankumarsoft — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 21:32:40 +0000

Less than three months after announcing his plans to donate to political motion committees supporting Donald Trump's presidential campaign, enterprise capitalist Ben Horowitz says he’s donating to Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential bid, CNBC has confirmed.

In a letter to employees at enterprise firm Andreessen Horowitz, the technology investor said he and his wife Felicia have had a longstanding friendship with Harris. Axios was the primary to report the letter. An individual near the corporate, who didn’t wish to be named as a way to comment freely on the matter, confirmed the contents of the letter.

“I wanted to give you an update on my political activity,” Horowitz wrote. “As I mentioned, Felicia and I have known Vice President Harris for over 10 years and she has been a great friend to both of us during that time.”

“Because of our friendship,” Horowitz continued, “Felicia and I will be making a significant donation to entities that support the Harris-Walz campaign.”

Andreessen and Horowitz, who founded their firm in 2009, haven’t made any formal endorsements before the 2024 election. Their financial support of the Trump campaign was because of what they called a greater “little tech agenda.”

“Our policy efforts as an organization are focused solely on this Defense of Little Tech” they wrote in a blog post on July 5th. “We do not engage in political fights outside of issues directly relevant to Little Tech.”

Andreessen and Horowitz were particularly critical of the Biden administration and its stance toward startups and crypto. In his latest letter, Horowitz said he was encouraged by his belief in Harris after discussions with her and her team, but “they’ve not yet outlined what their technology policy can be, so the corporate won’t update its position on this matter.”

REGARD: Horowitz on AI regulation

image credit : www.cnbc.com

Grocery stores that donate expired food — fairly than offering discounts or throwing it away — make higher profits

chandankumarsoft — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 06:41:18 +0000

All major supermarkets and retailers that sell food, comparable to Kroger, Walmart and Costco, are giving large quantities of food to food banks and pantries. In 2022, retailers donated close 2 billion kilos of food within the United States, which amounted to $3.5 billion this yr. The The estimated value of the donated food was just a little lower than $2 per pound in 2022.

Retailers donate products which are typically packaged, tasty and protected for consumption, but are unsuitable on the market as a result of quality concerns comparable to minor cosmetic defects. Since these things can go a good distance toward feeding hungry people, donations are certainly one of them absolute best uses of leftover or surplus food.

Donations are also technically charitable acts and the businesses chargeable for them are Receive tax breaks. This signifies that donations increase profits by reducing costs. There is a second impact of donations on the underside line: they improve the standard of the food on the shop's shelves and increase revenue from food sales.

As Supply chain scientist studying food banksI worked with a team of economists to estimate the impact of retail food donations. We used sales data for five perishable food categories sold by two competing retail chains whose stores were situated in a big metropolitan area within the Midwest. We've found that stores that remove items which are near expiration date donate them to food banks and replenish empty shelf space with brisker inventory generate more income from sales and achieve higher profits.

Retailers donate 30% of what food banks give to their customers

U.S. food banks operating for greater than 50 years Give away over 6 billion kilos of food annually.

They come around 30% of this food is accessible free of charge in supermarkets and huge retailers who sell food. Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, retailers delivered greater than twice as much food to food banks than the federal government did. The amount of food provided through U.S. Department of Agriculture federal programs comparable to the Emergency Food Assistance Program has increased steadily since 2020 and is now nearly equal to the quantity of food donated by retailers.

For example, in 2022, Feeding America's network of greater than 200 member boards sourced roughly 2 billion kilos from retailers and almost £1.5 billion from government programs.

The remaining 2.88 billion kilos of food were either purchased directly, provided by farmers, donated by food processors, or donated by people and organizations in local communities.

Despite several federal programs that help low-income people obtain food, and the nation's robust network of food banks and pantries, nearly 50 million Americans suffer from food insecurity. This signifies that they can not eat enough nutritious food, at the very least temporarily.

Retail donation routines are established but inconsistent

When food is nearing its expiration date on a store's shelves, store managers have three options. You can donate it, throw it away, or sell it at a reduction.

Stores that frequently donate food have established routines for after they put aside near-expired food to provide away. However, these routines are sometimes inconsistent.

Many stores only donate seasonally or only give away certain foods. For example, they might only donate meat, baked goods or fruit and vegetables. In many cases, donations take a backseat to more immediate priorities like customer support.

These realities can increase the possibilities of food ending up within the landfill fairly than on someone's table.

Although thousands and thousands of Americans struggle to search out their next meal nearby 40% of food is thrown away along the availability chain as food moves between agricultural producers, factories, retailers and consumers. This is principally as a result of logistical challenges: it’s difficult to move and distribute perishable food.

In September 2024, meat is obtainable at reduced prices at a food market in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Discounts on food can reduce sales

Stores often prefer to sell food that’s nearing its expiration date at a reduction fairly than donating or throwing it away because that way they get a reimbursement. However, with this selection, the discounted foods also remain on the shelf, taking on useful space that might otherwise be used for brisker stocks.

Shelf space dedicated to selling and promoting full-price products competes with space dedicated to discounted foods. Stocking perishable foods which are beginning to look questionable – comparable to bananas with brown spots sold alongside pristine yellow bananas – could damage a retailer's image if shoppers begin to query the standard of the shop.

In other words, when consumers make Judgments based on all products displayedthen possibly it's higher for stores to stop selling sad looking bananas and just give them away.

My research team calls this practice “preemptive removal.” Increasing the typical quality level of the food on display not only results in an improvement in the looks of a store. We used panel data with over 20,000 observations and included 21 retail stores that compete in the same market region. The five fresh food categories were bakery, dairy, deli, meat, and fruit and veggies.

Stores that donated food as an alternative of discounting it may need made higher use of limited space to display brisker inventory. My research team has found that food donations can increase Average food prices by as much as 1%which corresponds to a Increase profit margins by 33%. The profit margins of supermarkets and other food retailers are quite low typically lower than 3%.

This signifies that even a small increase in food prices, even a 1% increase, may end up in significantly higher profits for retailers. At the identical time, increasing the quantity of retail food donations would end in more food attending to individuals who need it, curbing hunger and reducing food insecurity.

image credit : theconversation.com

Elon Musk never told me he would donate $45 million a month

chandankumarsoft — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 15:48:54 +0000

Donald Trump said on Thursday that Elon Musk “never told” him that he would pledge $45 million a month to support Trump's presidential candidacy, days after the Tesla and SpaceX's CEO denied a report that he would accomplish that.

“I have a good relationship with him, I think he's a nice guy,” Trump said of Musk in a call-in interview with Fox News.

“Someone told me he would give me 45 million [dollars] a month. I said, “That sounds like a lot, even for Elon that's a lot,” said the Republican presidential candidate.

But Musk “never told me that he [$45 million],” he said.

“But he said, 'I strongly support you,' even though I oppose the electric car mandate,” Trump said, referring to the Biden administration's policy to prioritize electric vehicles over gasoline-powered vehicles.

Musk's support came shortly after Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on July 13.

Moreover, this happened just over a week before President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from re-election and Vice President Kamala Harris became the de facto Democratic candidate.

Two days after the shooting at a Trump rally, the Wall Street Journal wrote: Citing sources familiar with the matter, that Musk plans to donate $45 million a month to a newly formed pro-Trump super PAC.

The PAC has already received large donations from other major figures in the technology and finance world, such as Joe Lonsdale and the Winklevoss twins.

But Musk said in an interview with conservative celebrity Jordan Peterson that the number cited by the Journal was “simply not true.”

Muslim women who’re registered to vote usually tend to donate money and volunteer than non-voters.

chandankumarsoft — Sat, 25 May 2024 05:43:32 +0000

Civic engagement – including volunteering and voter registration – relatively than religiosity were more necessary correlates with donations from Muslim AmericansAccording to research we conducted along with our colleagues at Muslim Philanthropy Initiative.

All Muslims are required to provide Zakat, an obligatory type of giving. To fulfill this obligation, Muslims must donate 2.5% of their surplus wealth to charity annually.

We found that 87% of all Zakat donations from Muslim American women got here from registered voters. That is greater than the Percentage of Muslim American women who’re eligible to vote to run for election, which in response to a 2017 poll is 82%.

We also found that Muslim women who’re registered to vote are 15 times more prone to volunteer than other Muslim women. And we found that about 61% of Muslim American women who reported volunteering made nearly 94% of the entire zakat contributions that participants on this study reported making in 2022.

The initiative, based at Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, also found that the highest three motivators for Muslim women living within the United States to donate to charity or engage in other types of generosity are compassion for those in need, a way that their donations are making a difference and a belief that it is a component of their religious duty.

The data for this study were collected by Solutions for social science researcha non-public company specializing in survey research within the United States. It recruited 3,355 adults to take part in the survey between February and April 2023, which included a representative sample of Muslim American women.

Why it is crucial

Our findings show that nonprofits which can be eligible to receive Zakat funds but don’t engage with Muslim women in America are losing helpful financial and volunteer resources for his or her mission.

This study complements previous findings about how volunteering, giving, and civic engagement are positively correlated. We consider it is crucial for nonprofit leaders to construct strong relationships with their volunteers as a part of their fundraising strategy.

What's next

The Muslim Philanthropy Initiative is currently conducting additional research by conducting surveys and focus groups to achieve a more comprehensive picture of how Muslim women give to charity and volunteer. In this next phase, we seek to discover what causes Muslim women most support through their charitable giving and volunteerism.

The Research Brief is a brief overview of interesting scientific papers.