Bitcoin Magazine

Crypto Midterm Election Spending Reaches $176 Million as Industry Builds for the Next Congress

The crypto industry has spent about $176 million across more than 100 midterm races this cycle, according to a Reuters review of campaign spending. The money is part of a plan to build a bipartisan coalition in Congress that can protect the sector after President Donald Trump leaves office.

Fairshake, the industry’s largest super PAC, leads the effort. The group spent $196 million in the 2024 cycle and is directing strategy again. Through October 20, Fairshake and its affiliate PACs had spent about $150.8 million this year, while other crypto groups spent around $25 million. Fairshake said 53 of the 58 candidates it backed in primaries or special elections won, and those candidates will be on the November 3 ballot, per Reuters. 

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums but cannot coordinate with campaigns. Fairshake’s ads run through affiliates with names such as “Defend American Jobs” and “Protect Progress,” and they often focus on taxes and immigration rather than crypto. Voters have little way of knowing who pays for them. 

The watchdog group Public Citizen said crypto was the largest corporate spender in federal races in 2026. Crypto firms led corporate political spending at that point, citing the same watchdog’s analysis.

Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz are the primary financiers. Industry strategists and campaign staff said the money is a calling card meant to build relationships with elected officials. 

Crypto’s long game in Congress

Colin McLaren, head of government relations at the Solana Policy Institute, which has given $4.9 million to the midterms, called it “an investment in the future,” per Reuters.

The approach reflects a sharp change. In 2018, lawmakers could not secure a room in the House or Senate office buildings for the first bipartisan crypto roundtable, so they met at the Library of Congress. Then, under the Biden administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission levied more than $6 billion in penalties across 98 cases, according to a Georgetown University Law study. 

Executives concluded they needed political force. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad helped launch Stand With Crypto and Fairshake in 2023. The number of lawmakers rated “A” by Stand With Crypto rose to 332 from 96 when the group launched.

Legislation followed. The GENIUS Act, enacted in 2025 with broad bipartisan support, created the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. The industry’s next goal, the Clarity Act, would place oversight under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That bill stalled this session. Senate Democrats blocked it from reaching a final vote over an ethics provision that would have forced the Trump family to sell its crypto holdings. 

Fairshake helped defeat Sherrod Brown, who chaired the Senate Banking Committee, in 2024, and the industry has since spent more than $68 million on his rematch against Republican Jon Husted, according to AdImpact. 

Fairshake’s ads against Brown do not mention crypto, and Brown’s campaign manager, Patrick Eisenhauer, said “the special interests are panicking.” In Illinois, Fairshake spent over $10.1 million attacking Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton and $2.5 million against state Representative La Shawn Ford, per Reuters, yet both are expected to win on November 3. 

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss each gave about $13 million this cycle, most of it to MAGA Inc.

What voters think

Public attitudes are mixed. A September survey seen by Bitcoin Magazine of 1,545 U.S. adults by Ipsos for the DeFi Education Fund found that 22% have owned or used crypto, up from 18% in 2025. Only 19% believe the U.S. financial system is secure. 

The survey also found 35% say it is important for candidates to support building the next generation of financial technology in the United States. Only 13% said the same when the question named blockchain, crypto or DeFi. The DeFi Education Fund is a digital asset advocacy group, so its framing reflects that perspective. 

Stand With Crypto’s leadership has argued that the crypto vote will decide the midterms.

This post Crypto Midterm Election Spending Reaches $176 Million as Industry Builds for the Next Congress first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

TL;DR: Crypto-aligned political committees have reported more than $52 million in spending against former Senator Sherrod Brown’s bid to return to Congress. The campaign is one of the clearest examples of the industry’s willingness to spend heavily on a single Senate seat.

The cryptocurrency industry’s election spending is no longer an abstract national number. In Ohio, a single Senate contest has now attracted more than $52 million from two crypto-aligned political committees.

Federal Election Commission filings show Defend American Jobs, an affiliate of the Fairshake network, reporting about $46.67 million in expenditures opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown and supporting Republican incumbent Jon Husted. A separate committee, the Digital Freedom Fund, reported approximately $5.94 million in spending in the race, putting the combined total near $52.61 million.

Brown is a former US senator seeking to return to the chamber, not the sitting incumbent. That distinction matters because the spending is aimed at keeping the seat with Husted in the November midterm election.

Fairshake and related groups have received financial support from major crypto companies, including Coinbase and Ripple. Their involvement reflects the industry’s interest in who controls the committee agenda and how future digital-asset rules are negotiated in Washington.

The Ohio total also shows how quickly campaign commitments can grow. Defend American Jobs’ reported amount is well above the $30 million previously earmarked for the race. The figures represent political spending, not money contributed directly to a candidate’s official campaign account.

There is a risk for the industry in attaching itself so visibly to partisan contests. A sector seeking durable rules will eventually need to work with whichever party holds power. For now, its backers are making the calculation that winning particular races is worth an extraordinary financial commitment.