Michelle Bond, the CEO behind a crypto-focused think tank in Washington, DC and the partner of former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame, announced the launch of an initiative “to boost voter registration and crypto education” in the United States.
In a July 24 notice, crypto think tank Digital Future said it would initially target US voters in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina as part of Project Swing. According to Digital Future, the voter project aims to “activate support for pro-crypto candidates” ahead of the 2024 election season, which is already in full swing nationwide.
Bond said in an X post that the project would help “ensure the right candidates are elected” related to policies on financial freedom. Cointelegraph reached out to Digital Future for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Though the initiative did not explicitly name any pro-crypto candidates or political parties, it said it would target “like-minded voters” in "crucial” swing states, likely referring to views on crypto and blockchain. In 2022, Bond ran as a Republican to represent New York’s 1st Congressional District, but her campaign did not continue after the party’s primary.
Connected to FTX collapse
Salame, Bond’s partner and father of her eight-month-old child, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business in 2023. He allegedly contributed to Bond’s congressional campaign on behalf of a corporation, violating US law. In May, a judge sentenced Salame to 90 months in prison, for which he is scheduled to report on Aug. 29.
Following his sentencing hearing, Salame returned to X to make various posts about FTX, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and questioning US voter ID laws. Since US President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for reelection in 2024, Salame made a misleading post about how Biden’s campaign funds were being used to support presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Bond helped launch Digital Future in June — one of her first professional endeavors following the collapse of FTX in 2022. She previously served as the CEO of the Association for Digital Asset Markets and as counsel for the US Senate Banking Committee.
With 103 days until US Election Day, the entire political landscape in the country has been shifting since President Biden announced that he would end his campaign. Some US states have already held party primaries to determine which candidates will be on the ballot in November, with crypto being on many voters’ minds this election season.