The Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of Ripple Labs, Stuart Alderoty, has contributed $300,000 in XRP to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to a CNBC report, the donation was made on June 11, 2024, and became public just yesterday. Notably, Alderoty recently attended a Trump fundraising event hosted by venture investor David Sacks in San Francisco.
Potential Motives Behind The Ripple CLO’s Donation
The transaction involved Alderoty sending 624,000 XRP to Trump’s campaign, which was subsequently converted to the stablecoin USDC, reflecting an exchange rate of approximately $0.48 per XRP. Thus, Trump does not hold any XRP anymore. However, the conversion was standard action. “President Trump’s campaign has a standard procedure to convert all received cryptocurrencies to USDC,” stated James Delmore, a former analyst at FOX News.
This contribution comes at a time when Trump has notably shifted to a pro-crypto stance, which might have influenced Alderoty’s decision to donate. However, unlike the Winklevoss twins, Alderoty has not publicly disclosed his reasons for the contribution. Ripple has been embroiled in a legal dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by Chairman Gary Gensler, for over three and a half years.
There is a general belief that Trump, if re-elected, would replace the SEC chairman with a pro-crypto advocate. Such a change could fulfill a strategic purpose behind Alderoty’s donation: to support the replacement of Gary Gensler. With a new chairman, the introduction of pro-crypto legislation and clearer regulations could become more likely, potentially affecting Ripple’s ongoing legal dispute with the SEC favorably.
It’s conceivable that under Trump’s administration, the new SEC might either drop the case against Ripple or avoid escalating it to higher courts in the event of an unfavorable ruling. A Trump presidency thus paints a positive future for Ripple, possibly allowing the company to operate in the US without restrictions and to expand the deployment of XRP-based services to the US.
Crypto Industry Unites For Trump
The Ripple CLO joins a long list of donors from the crypto industry for Trump. The broader crypto community is rallying behind Trump, whose campaign has raised significant amounts from the sector. From April 1 to June 30, Trump’s “47” joint fundraising committee garnered over $118 million, with $4 million coming in various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP. High-profile donors include crypto billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and BitGo CEO Mike Belshe.
Trump is slated to further engage with the crypto community, with a keynote address at a major Bitcoin conference in Tennessee on Saturday and a high-ticket fundraiser in Nashville on the same day.
Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign aide, highlighted the significance of the crypto support to CBNC: “Crypto innovators and others in the technology sector are under attack from Kamala Harris and the Democrats. President Trump is ready to encourage American leadership in this and other emerging technologies.”
At press time, XRP traded at $0.6031.
