Stripe Millionaire Loses Bid for Congress to Candidate Backed by Ripple Co-Founder
Saikat Chakrabarti, a Stripe co-founder and former aide to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lost his California congressional bid, polling about 15% as Scott Wiener and Connie Chan advanced to the runoff for Nancy Pelosi’s House seat. Chakrabarti ran as a progressive outsider, attacking congressional stock trading and “tech oligarchs and crypto billionaires,” and spent nearly $10 million of his own money. His defeat highlights growing crypto-sector influence in politics. Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen backed opposition PAC Abundant Future with $100,000 and also gave $7,000 to Wiener’s campaign. Abundant Future spent about $65,200 against Chakrabarti, while other tech figures tied to crypto also contributed. Larsen has made major political donations before, including $11 million in XRP to Future Forward USA supporting Kamala Harris, and Ripple later gave $5 million in XRP to Trump’s inaugural fund. Chakrabarti has also voiced support for central bank digital currencies, despite privacy concerns around them.
