Jesse Powell donates $1M to Trump, mirroring Winklevoss rule break

Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell has apparently made the same mistake as the Winklevoss Twins and made a $1 million donation to Donald Trump’s election campaign despite the legal limit for a single-person donation being $844,600.

Powell made the donation, which he claims was made up of mostly ether, earlier today but there’s a chance a good chunk of that could be refunded. As reported by Bloomberg last week, each of the Winklevoss Twins was refunded the excess amount of $155,400.

Protos has reached out to Kraken to clarify whether or not Powell’s $1 million donation broke the legal limit.

I just personally donated $1m (mostly #ETH) to @realDonaldTrump.

For too long, the crypto industry has been under attack by Elizabeth Warren, Gary Gensler and others. Despite overwhelming bipartisan Congressional efforts to put clear rules in place, the Biden White House has… pic.twitter.com/Ksxf3P2oCb
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) June 28, 2024

Trump pledged to free the convicted founder of drug marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht.

Last November the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange. It alleges that it made ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ by unlawfully selling crypto tokens the commission deems as securities.

Powell, who swapped his CEO role for the position of board chairman, called the charges against the exchange “another attack on America.”

He has since joined crypto proponents in backing Trump’s campaign as the former president seemingly adopts a pro-crypto stance (a change from calling it a scam five years ago). The Joe Biden campaign has also changed its tune on crypto, reportedly seeking guidance on ‘crypto community and crypto policy moving forward.’

When Powell announced the donation he said, “I am excited to join other leaders from our community to unite behind the only pro-crypto major party candidate in the 2024 Presidential election so the United States can continue to remain a leader in blockchain technology.”

Despite the ‘pro-crypto’ endorsement, crypto reportedly wasn’t mentioned during last night’s Donald Trump v. Joe Biden election debate.

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