Founder and CEO of FTX cryptocurrency exchange Sam Bankman-Fried revealed he could donate up to $1 billion in the Presidential elections of the United States in 2024, depending on which leader is running for what position.
In an interview with The Pushkin Industries podcast, the FTX chief also said it was imperative for governments to work on preventing a COVID-like pandemic in the future that results in the wastage of tens of billions of dollars.
“I would guess north of $100 million. As for how much more than that, I don't know. It really does depend on what happens. It's really dependent on exactly who's running where for what, and these things are super contingent," Bankman-Fried said.
Asked if he was prepared to donate $1bn should former US President Donald Trump decide to run again, Bankman-Fried said, "(it) is a decent thing to look at. I would hate to say hard ceiling because who knows what's going to happen between now and then — but at least sort of as a soft ceiling.
A donation of $1bn would be more than the largest donation made in the Presidential polls of 2020 multiple times over, according to OpenSecrets, a website tracking campaign finance and lobbying data.
In 2020, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, had backed the Republicans with a $218m donation, and Michael Bloomberg had donated $152m to the Democrats, making them the largest individual donors to political parties.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried stressed on the importance of good governance to prevent a COVID-like pandemic in the future, costing governments "tens of billions of dollars."
"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," he said.
He added that the United States has both a big opportunity and big responsibility to the world to shepherd the West in a powerful but responsible manner since everything the country does has "massive ripple effects on what the future looks like.
