Person
Billionaire co-founder of Ripple Labs and the XRP cryptocurrency, now active in California politics and civic funding.
Chris Larsen gave the SFPD $9.4 million for its real-time crime centre and now says opposition to plate readers has grown huge in two years. Cities are switching cameras off, which makes retention the live term.
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The San Francisco Democratic Party broke with its state party 17-4 to oppose Prop 40, but the six billionaires who have already ended their California residency are the only votes on this measure that are already counted.
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John Doerr put in $7.5 million and Chris Larsen $10 million against a one-time 5% wealth tax. Measured against what the measure would cost them, that is cheap insurance.
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Mark Cuban and Ro Khanna spent a weekend arguing on X about California's Proposition 40. The operative question for founders is where the cash comes from.
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California's billionaire tax faces a nine-figure defense built as ballot engineering: two counter-measures that only have to outpoll Prop 40, not beat it head-on.
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