Chris Larsen recently told a local reporter that the phenomenon of money in politics is “gross.” Whatever repulsion Larsen feels hasn’t got in the way of his quest to become a top political donor. It’s a feat he’s achieved both by spending some of his own billion-dollar fortune as well as the money earned by his crypto currency company, Ripple Labs.

Nationally, Larsen’s supports political candidates that promise to keep federal regulators at bay, specifically allowing crypto firms like Ripple to evade consumer protection laws in place since the Great Depression. Last year, Ripple, crypto startup Coinbase and venture capital firm Andreessen Horwitz, a leading investor in crypto firms, created Fairshake, a super Political Action Committee to fight a perceived “War Against Crypto” by targeting pro-consumer Democrats in Congress like former California Congresswoman Katie Porter and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. Recently, Fairshake announced that it has raised $140 million for the mid-term elections.

Locally, Larsen has a different agenda: In San Francisco, and more recently Oakland, Larsen has backed candidates who share his preoccupation with public safety, especially his fetishistic interest in public surveillance. He championed former Mayor London Breed, even creating a legal defense fund should she need one. He spent $350,000 on two Breed measures on the March 2024 ballot: Proposition E, which allows the long-troubled San Francisco Police Department to widely use surveillance technologies and drones, and Proposition F, which tied welfare payments to sobriety. Both passed.

In both national and local elections, Larsen has proven nimble, adapting quickly to changes in the political landscape. After donating nearly $12 million to former Vice President Kamala Harris, Larsen swiftly cozied up to victor Donald Trump. Ripple donated $5 million to president’s inauguration committee. Once former Mayor Breed’s biggest booster — he gave $700,000 to her 2024 re-election campaign, alone — the billionaire has bought his way into the inner circle of Mayor Daniel Lurie, a man he called unprepared for City Hall. Last week, Lurie proudly announced that Larsen had donated nearly $9.4 million to create a control center for the police. 

Larsen’s money has allowed him to push a conservative agenda in San Francisco, and to keep federal regulators from pursuing legal action against him and Ripple. 

A Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple alleged that the company had sold $1.3 billion worth of tokens over a decade, failing to register the sale (and to provide required details regarding those transactions), a violation of state law. Ripple got off with a $125 million fine, a fraction of the $2 billion possible had the SEC prevailed in court. The settlement came after Ripple gave $5 million in digital tokens to Trump’s inauguration, making it the second largest contributor to the celebration. 

Mayor Lurie recently boasted of Ripple’s donation to what he calls the San Francisco Police Department’s Real-Time Investigation Center, established last year after the passage of Prop E allowed the SFPD to expand its use of high tech equipment, especially drones and surveillance cameras, without approval from the Police Commission. Working with various community groups, Larsen had already donated surveillance cameras scattered throughout the city. After the passage of Prop E the SFPD added its own cameras to the network. 

The “philanthropic grant,” as Lurie called the nearly $10 million in funding,  will allow the center to move from a decrepit government-owned office into a plush downtown office. Notably, Ripple leases the now-empty office from Trump Enterprises. Under the deal, Ripple will continue to hold the lease.

The deal also allows the SFPD to purchase the latest in crime-fighting gear without a competitive bid process. The equipment will be purchased by Crankstart, the foundation started by billionaire tech investor Michael Moritz, and the Community Police Foundation, created by Larsen. 

For a small fraction of his fortune, Larsen has essentially created a quasi-governmental department, one allowed to evade oversight. Matthew Guariglia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Lurie has essentially handed over control of an important police function to Larsen. “By taking money from a very rich person, you’re relinquishing even the power of the pocket book,” Guariglia told Mission Local. “Not only do you not have control over what police use and how they use it, you also can’t claim the reins that says that, ‘We can control how much money the police department gets.’ “

In the late eighties. Trump wrote “The Art of the Deal,” which became a New York Times best seller and secured his place in the public imagination. Trump called it his favorite book after the Bible while his co-author, Tony Schwartz, said it should have been titled, “The Sociopath.” Trump promised to donate royalties to charities including those that benefitted the homeless, Vietnam veterans, AIDS, and multiple sclerosis. According to the Washington Post, the donations never materialized.

Like Trump, Larsen views politics much as he does business; investments and profits are returned. A good transaction is one in which Larsen comes out on top. This should give Mayor Lurie, who promised to eradicate the pay-to-play politics that became endemic under his predecessors, pause.