{"id":244376,"date":"2026-10-27T14:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T14:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=244376"},"modified":"2026-10-27T14:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T14:34:47","slug":"crypto-midterm-election-spending-reaches-176-million-as-industry-builds-for-the-next-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=244376","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Midterm Election Spending Reaches $176 Million as Industry Builds for the Next Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Crypto Midterm Election Spending Reaches $176 Million as Industry Builds for the Next Congress<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The crypto industry has spent about $176 million across more than 100 midterm races this cycle, according to a Reuters review<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Fairshake, the industry\u2019s largest super PAC, leads the effort. The group spent $196 million in the 2024 cycle and is directing strategy again. Through October 20, Fairshake<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited sums but cannot coordinate with campaigns. Fairshake\u2019s ads run through affiliates with names such as \u201cDefend American Jobs\u201d and \u201cProtect Progress,\u201d and they often focus on taxes and immigration rather than crypto. Voters have little way of knowing who pays for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The watchdog group Public Citizen said crypto was the largest corporate spender<\/a> in federal races in 2026. Crypto firms led corporate political spending at that point, citing the same watchdog\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crypto\u2019s long game in Congress<\/h2>\n

Colin McLaren, head of government relations at the Solana Policy Institute, which has given $4.9 million to the midterms, called it \u201can investment in the future,\u201d per Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0Then, under the Biden administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission levied more than $6 billion in penalties across 98 cases, according<\/a> to a Georgetown University Law study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Executives concluded they needed political force. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad helped launch<\/a> Stand With Crypto and Fairshake in 2023. The number of lawmakers rated \u201cA\u201d by Stand With Crypto rose to 332 from 96 when the group launched.<\/p>\n

Legislation followed. The GENIUS Act<\/a>, enacted in 2025 with broad bipartisan support, created the first federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. The industry\u2019s next goal, the Clarity Act, would place oversight under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That bill stalled this session. Senate Democrats blocked<\/a> it from reaching a final vote over an ethics provision that would have forced the Trump family to sell its crypto holdings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fairshake helped defeat<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fairshake\u2019s ads against Brown do not mention crypto, and Brown\u2019s campaign manager, Patrick Eisenhauer, said \u201cthe special interests are panicking.\u201d 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,<\/em> yet both are expected to win on November 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss each gave<\/a> about $13 million this cycle, most of it to MAGA Inc.<\/p>\n

What voters think<\/h2>\n

Public attitudes are mixed. A September survey seen by Bitcoin Magazine<\/em> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stand With Crypto\u2019s leadership has argued that the crypto vote will decide the midterms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This post Crypto Midterm Election Spending Reaches $176 Million as Industry Builds for the Next Congress<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Micah Zimmerman<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":244377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244376"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=244376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/244377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=244376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=244376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=244376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}