FTX CEO Plans To Spend Up To $1B To Influence 2024 US Presidential Election

The founder of FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, plans to get involved in the 2024 U.S. presidential elections with a donation amount anywhere between $100 million and $1 billion.

Bankman-Fried, also popularly called SBF, talked about the money he plans to donate during the next presidential election cycle in a recent episode of the podcast "What's Your Problem" hosted by Jacob Goldstein.

The Hong Kong-based CEO revealed in the episode that he planned to donate “north of $100 million” with a “soft ceiling” of $1 billion against the candidate running against former president Donald Trump. It is not yet clear whether Trump will be the GOP candidate in 2024. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is a strong contender, and beat out Trump in a recent Republican poll.

“I would hate to say hard ceiling because who knows what’s going to happen between now and then," SBF stated in the episode.

According to the data presented by government watchdog OpenSecrets responsible for tracking data on campaign finance and lobbying, a donation of $1 billion will break existing records by a significant margin.

Interestingly, SBF added that the amount that he plans to donate is "super contingent" and "really depends on exactly who's running where and for why."

“I think that I'm going to be looking a lot less at political parties from that perspective and a lot more about sane governance and ads for the things that I care the most about,” said the billionaire.

SBF said that he wants the U.S. to be ready for the next pandemic, which could cost “tens of billions of dollars.” "The United States has both a big opportunity and big responsibility to the world to shepherd the West in a powerful but responsible manner," he added.

The founder of FTX is not new to political donations. As per the WSJ, Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million for President Joe Biden’s campaign.