{"id":21028,"date":"2026-01-30T21:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/bitcoin-volatility-costs-winklevoss-backed-super-pac-millions\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T21:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:57:24","slug":"bitcoin-volatility-costs-winklevoss-backed-super-pac-millions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/bitcoin-volatility-costs-winklevoss-backed-super-pac-millions\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin volatility costs Winklevoss-backed Super-PAC millions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">A super-PAC backed by crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss is learning the hard way that political fundraising in Bitcoin can be a risky bet. <\/p>\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">A large cryptocurrency donation made during last year\u2019s bull market has since lost millions in value, Bloomberg <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-01-30\/bitcoin-slump-cuts-millions-from-winklevoss-super-pac-donation?srnd=phx-crypto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reported<\/a>. The plummet underscores how volatility can complicate both campaign finance strategies and promises. After all, President Trump pledged that the U.S. would be a \u201ccrypto capital\u201d \u2014 today, it\u2019s anything but. <\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_eb181ec4306ea6f81b1bc8e84c5e9ce8\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Winklevoss-backed super-PAC, Digital Freedom Fund, raised over $22 million in late 2025, including a major Bitcoin donation.<\/li>\n<li>Holding 188.4547 Bitcoin instead of converting it to cash caused a $5 million loss as the cryptocurrency fell from ~$114,000 to under $88,000.<\/li>\n<li>The super-PAC continues to hold crypto while also receiving $1 million in cash from Kraken, highlighting the risks and challenges of using digital assets in political fundraising.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The Digital Freedom Fund, a political fundraising group launched by the Winklevoss twins, raised more than $22 million in the final five months of 2025, according to federal filings. A significant portion of that came in the form of Bitcoin (BTC), which the super-PAC chose to hold rather than immediately convert to cash\u2014a decision that proved costly as prices fell sharply.<\/p>\n<p>In August, the twins, who run the crypto exchange Gemini, transferred 188.4547 Bitcoin to the Digital Freedom Fund, filings with the Federal Election Commission show. At the time, Bitcoin was trading at roughly $114,000. By the end of the year, however, the price had dropped to under $88,000, reducing the value of the contribution by nearly $5 million. As of Dec. 31, the super-PAC was still holding the digital asset.<\/p>\n<p>Holding onto Bitcoin may have seemed prudent when the donation was made, as the cryptocurrency was riding a strong bull run. In a lengthy post on X at the time, Tyler Winklevoss said the contribution was aimed at influencing midterm elections, backing Trump, and helping make the U.S. \u201cthe crypto capital of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Bitcoin\u2019s momentum reversed after peaking near $125,000 in early October. As of Friday\u2019s last check, it was trading below $82,000.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coingecko.com\/en\/coins\/bitcoin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">CoinGecko<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Federal rules do not require super-PACs to immediately liquidate cryptocurrency donations, though most convert them to cash relatively quickly. In addition to crypto, Digital Freedom Fund also received $1 million in cash from Payward Inc., operator of the Kraken exchange, and reported just over $723,000 in cash on hand at year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p>The fund is one of several crypto-backed super-PACs active in U.S. politics, as the industry continues to test how digital assets fit into traditional campaign finance.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Trump\u2019s approval rating <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/5713634-trump-approval-rating-decline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">dropped<\/a> to 37% in the latest Pew poll, and a growing number of Republicans are <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/republicans-donald-trump-poll-11443118\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reportedly<\/a> fed up with his administration. <\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A super-PAC backed by crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss is learning the hard way that political fundraising in Bitcoin can be a risky bet. A large cryptocurrency donation made&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21030,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21028\/revisions\/21030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}