Coinbase defends funding of White House ballroom after East Wing demolished

Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase's chief policy officer, just clapped back hard at Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy's allegations that the exchange is part of Trump's "corruption factory." The drama went down on X after Murphy claimed Coinbase's donations to PAC Fairshake and 2025 inauguration funding were tied to the SEC dropping its lawsuit against them.

Shirzad dropped the receipts: Fairshake is "non-partisan" and public donations have supported previous inaugurations. But here's the tea - Trump initially said the 90,000 sq ft ballroom wouldn't "touch" the historic East Wing... then photos last week showed it completely demolished. Project costs ballooned from $200M to $350M too.

Weeks before this X beef, Coinbase reps attended a White House fundraising dinner for the ballroom project alongside Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Ripple Labs. Coinbase stayed silent when Cointelegraph asked how much they donated or about the East Wing demolition.

This ain't their first rodeo with Trump-era projects. Back in June, Coinbase was prominently displayed as a sponsor for the US Army's 250th anniversary military parade on Trump's birthday through America250. Meanwhile, CEO Brian Armstrong has been grinding on Capitol Hill during the government shutdown (day 31 and counting) pushing crypto market structure legislation.

The Republican-backed Responsible Financial Innovation Act was supposed to be out of committee by end of October, but with the shutdown dragging on, who knows if crypto legislation will actually move forward. The DC power play continues...