# Emilie Choi — "We’re just getting started" > [!quote] "We’re just getting started…." > — Emilie Choi, President and COO of Coinbase, on X, November 6, 2024, posted above a screenshot of the *New York Times* headline "The Crypto Industry Spent Over $130 Million on the Election. It Paid Off." ## Context [[Emilie Choi]] posted this at 2:12 PM on November 6, 2024, the day after the election. The screenshot she attached is the headline and subhead of David Yaffe-Bellany's *New York Times* story: "The spending spree fueled a string of victories on Tuesday for congressional candidates who had expressed support for cryptocurrencies." The story's body put the number at **about $135 million**, spent by [[Fairshake PAC]] and its two affiliates and funded mainly by [[Coinbase]], [[Ripple]], and [[Andreessen Horowitz]]. The headline rounded down to "over $130 million." NBC News reported the same figure: about $170 million raised and $135 million disbursed. The headline wins the *Times* cited include about $40 million for [[Bernie Moreno]], who unseated Senate Banking chair [[Sherrod Brown]], and $10 million in attack ads that helped sink [[Katie Porter]] in the California Senate primary. ## Why this matters The industry described Fairshake as self-defense against an anti-crypto SEC. In four words, the president of its biggest donor described it instead as **the opening move of a permanent campaign**. Later events bear her out: Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z had already pledged another ~$78M for 2026 on the eve of the election; Fairshake entered 2026 with $193M on hand; and its Republican-primary arm has since put more than $12M into a single Senate race ([[Defend American Jobs 12.1M Ohio Senate IE]]). Choi used the phrase again on January 14, 2025, sharing a Politico Tech interview about "how we’re just getting started in DC." ## Verification - **Primary source:** [the post itself](https://x.com/emiliemc/status/1854240350371766571), viewed directly on X on 2026-10-04: text "We’re just getting started….", timestamp 2:12 PM · Nov 6, 2024, with the NYT headline screenshot attached. About 168.6K views at time of viewing. - **Repeat use:** Choi's January 14, 2025 X post quoting Steven Overly's Politico Tech episode, viewed on X on 2026-10-04. - **$135M figure:** the *Times* article body ("a total of about $135 million") plus NBC News ($135 million disbursed). Note that the *headline* Choi screenshotted says "over $130 million." - **Status:** Verbatim, undisputed. ## See Also - [[Emilie Choi]] - [[Fairshake PAC]] - [[Coinbase]] - [[Crypto-Political Machine]] - [[Crypto Super PACs]]