Overview
- Sen. Chris Murphy alleged Coinbase steered $46 million into election efforts, made a large inauguration payment, helped fund a National Mall ballroom, and then benefited when the SEC dropped its lawsuit.
- Coinbase’s Paul Grewal and Faryar Shirzad rejected the claims as false, stressing that donations flowed through Fairshake, a nonpartisan PAC that also backed Democrats.
- The company says inaugural contributions are routine across administrations and that any National Mall ballroom support went through a nonprofit with many donors and no Coinbase role in construction.
- Coinbase highlights a federal court ruling that the SEC’s denial of its rulemaking petition was arbitrary and capricious, and notes the agency has since withdrawn its case against the exchange.
- Attorney John E. Deaton criticized the SEC for approving Coinbase’s IPO before later suing it, while Senate Democrats continue probing funding behind the reported $300 million ballroom project and no direct tie between donations and regulatory outcomes has been shown publicly.