The cryptocurrency industry is spending approximately $176 million to influence more than 100 US midterm election races, seeking to build a bipartisan network of lawmakers who can advance its regulatory priorities beyond President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The campaign reflects a longer-term strategy by crypto companies and wealthy investors to influence Congress, support candidates sympathetic to digital assets and challenge politicians viewed as obstacles to the industry. With the US cryptocurrency market valued at approximately $2.75 trillion, industry leaders are increasingly treating political spending as an investment in shaping future regulations.
Fairshake, the industry’s largest super political action committee (super PAC), is leading the effort. The group spent $196 million during the 2024 election cycle and said 53 of the 58 candidates it supported in primaries or special elections this year had won and would appear on the November 3 ballot.
According to campaign finance filings, Fairshake and its affiliated PACs had spent approximately $150.8 million on the 2026 midterms by October 20, while other crypto groups had contributed roughly $25 million in spending.
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The campaign comes as the industry seeks to secure legislative protections and reduce the risk that a future administration could reverse regulatory policies established under Trump.
Building Political Influence Beyond Trump
The crypto industry’s political strategy has evolved considerably since 2018, when lawmakers struggled to find space in congressional office buildings for an early bipartisan roundtable on cryptocurrency.
Following the collapse of FTX and the wider crypto market turmoil in 2022, the industry faced increased regulatory scrutiny under the Biden administration. The Securities and Exchange Commission subsequently imposed more than $6 billion in penalties across 98 cases, according to a Georgetown University Law study.
Industry executives and lobbyists responded by expanding their political advocacy, arguing that regulatory uncertainty threatened innovation and investment.
Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad helped establish the advocacy group Stand With Crypto and Fairshake in 2023. Stand With Crypto’s list of lawmakers receiving an “A” rating has grown from 96 at its launch to 332, illustrating the expansion of the industry’s political outreach.
The industry has also benefited from legislative progress under Trump. The 2025 GENIUS Act established the first US federal regulatory framework for stablecoins with substantial bipartisan support.
However, industry strategists argue that executive actions and agency-level regulations may not provide sufficient long-term certainty. A future administration could reverse some policies, making legislation enacted by Congress a central priority.
Why the Clarity Act Matters
The industry’s principal legislative objective is the Clarity Act, which would shift significant oversight of cryptocurrency markets to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The bill stalled during the current congressional session and could face further obstacles if Democrats gain control of one or both chambers of Congress.
Fairshake has supported House candidates from both parties, but it has limited its Senate support to Republicans after Democratic senators blocked the legislation from advancing to a final vote. Opposition included concerns over an ethics provision that would have required members of the Trump family to sell their cryptocurrency holdings.
Critics have raised additional concerns about the proposed regulatory framework. Gary Kalman of Transparency International argued that transferring oversight to the CFTC could result in less stringent regulation and restrict states’ ability to introduce tougher rules.
The disagreement illustrates why the industry is investing in congressional races: the composition of Congress could influence whether its preferred regulatory framework becomes law.
How Crypto Money Is Reshaping Individual Races
Fairshake’s spending has become particularly visible in competitive congressional contests.
In Ohio, the committee has spent more than $68 million on the Senate race involving Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Jon Husted, according to AdImpact. Brown, a longtime cryptocurrency critic and former chair of the Senate Banking Committee, is seeking to return to the Senate after losing in 2024.
Fairshake’s campaign against Brown has included advertisements focusing on taxes and immigration rather than cryptocurrency policy. One advertisement repeated a claim about his voting record that Reuters had previously debunked.
Brown’s campaign has accused special interests of attempting to undermine his efforts to represent working Ohioans.
Crypto spending has also played a major role in other contests. In a Maryland Democratic House primary, industry groups spent $5.3 million supporting state Delegate Adrian Boafo, who raised $1.9 million independently. The spending contributed to an advertising environment that rival candidate Quincy Bareebe described as overwhelming.
In Illinois, Fairshake spent more than $10.1 million attacking Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton in her Senate campaign and another $2.5 million targeting state Representative La Shawn Ford in a congressional race.
Ford won his primary despite the advertising campaign and accused Fairshake of using misleading and damaging claims against him. His campaign issued a cease-and-desist letter over advertisements referring to a federal indictment from 14 years earlier that was subsequently dropped.
These contests demonstrate how industry-funded spending can influence the information voters encounter, even when advertisements do not explicitly discuss cryptocurrency.
Who Funds the Campaigns?
Coinbase, Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz are among the leading financial backers of the crypto political spending effort. The Solana Policy Institute has also contributed millions of dollars to the midterms.
Industry strategists say the goal is not simply to persuade voters to embrace digital currencies. Political contributions and advertising campaigns also help establish relationships with elected officials who may later shape legislation and regulation.
Super PACs can accept and spend unlimited amounts of money independently of candidate campaigns, although they cannot coordinate directly with those campaigns.
The structure of the advertising effort has also raised transparency concerns. Many advertisements funded by Fairshake’s affiliated PACs appear under names such as “Defend American Jobs” and “Protect Progress,” with messaging focused on broader political issues rather than cryptocurrency.
Public Citizen has described the crypto industry as the largest corporate spender in federal races in 2026, highlighting the scale of its growing political influence.
What Comes After the Midterms?
The industry’s spending reflects an effort to protect its interests against political change. Trump has supported the cryptocurrency sector, while a Reuters investigation found that his family earned approximately $2.3 billion from crypto ventures between mid-2024 and April 2026.
Industry representatives nevertheless recognise that future presidents may have different priorities.
Fairshake says it supports candidates from both parties who favour cryptocurrency innovation and wants to continue building what it describes as a strong bipartisan congressional coalition.
The longer-term objective is to establish clearer rules for digital assets, reduce regulatory uncertainty and secure legislation that cannot be reversed as easily as executive or agency decisions.
Whether the strategy delivers those outcomes will depend on election results, congressional negotiations and the ability of lawmakers to reconcile the industry’s demands with concerns over investor protection, conflicts of interest and regulatory oversight.
For now, the $176 million campaign demonstrates how cryptocurrency has become a major force in US political financing. The industry is not only competing to shape the current regulatory environment but also investing in relationships intended to influence digital asset policy well beyond the Trump administration.
With information from Reuters.
