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Home Front: Politix

Crypto blitzes midterms with $176 million to support allies as it prepares for post-Trump era

2026-10-27

[Reuters] The crypto industry has spent roughly $176 million across more than 100 midterm races this election cycle, as part of a years-long plan to build a bipartisan coalition of allies in Congress that can advance its interests long after US President Donald Trump leaves office.

The $2.75 trillion industry, and the billionaires who built it, are aggressively spending to elect friendly candidates while targeting politicians they see as a threat, according to interviews with more than a half-dozen crypto political strategists and a Reuters review of the spending.

While the industry’s recent spending blitz is known, its long-term plan to further its legislative agenda is less well-understood. The industry isn’t just looking for allies; it is trying to pick candidates who already have a chance of winning, and can help once they get to ‌Congress, the strategists said.

Crypto's largest super political action committee, Fairshake, which spent $196 million during the 2024 election cycle, is leading the industry’s strategy again. Fairshake said 53 of the 58 candidates it supported in primaries or special elections this year won and will be on the ballot on November 3.

Super PACs can accept and spend unlimited sums of money, but cannot coordinate directly with campaigns. They are flooding several races with tens of millions of dollars in ads.

Voters have little way of knowing who pays for these ads, which barely mention crypto. Most of Fairshake's are sponsored by its affiliate PACs with innocuous names like "Defend American Jobs" and "Protect Progress." The ads often focus on hot-button issues like taxes or immigration.

Perceived enemies, such as longtime skeptic Sherrod Brown, vying to return to the Senate in Ohio, can be subjected to an onslaught of often-personal attacks. Advocacy group Public Citizen said crypto was the single-biggest corporate spender in federal races in 2026, after saying in 2024 that its spending was "akin to a corporate Death Star hovering over elections."

The PACs' primary financiers, led by Coinbase, Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, aren't trying to convince voters to support digital currencies. The money is a calling card to help forge long-term relationships with elected officials, said industry strategists, campaign staff, watchdog groups and political finance managers.

It underscores how the industry is behaving as other businesses do in Washington — using funds to open doors and buffer itself against regulation. ⁠The strategy reflects the reality that come 2029, the occupant of the White House is unlikely to be as personally invested in crypto as Trump, whose family made around $2.3 billion from crypto ventures between mid-2024 and April, a Reuters investigation found.

“It's an investment in the future,” said Colin McLaren, head of government relations at crypto industry advocacy group the Solana Policy Institute, which has given $4.9 million to the midterms this year, according to campaign finance records.

The effort is designed to “ensure that over the next 100 years, the crypto industry has clear rules of the road, and that we know what our regulators are expecting from us," he said.

Through October 20, Fairshake and its affiliate PACs have spent about $150.8 million on the midterms this year, while other crypto groups have spent around $25 million, according to campaign finance filings.

"We back pro-crypto candidates who support American innovation in both parties, and look forward to continuing to build on the largest pro-crypto caucus in American history," said Geoff Vetter, spokesperson for Fairshake.

Posted by:Skidmark

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