After Senate Democrats blocked a bill to regulate cryptocurrency on the Senate floor last week, the industry’s major Super PAC network announced the first installment in what is expected to be a heavy wave of spending before the midterm elections.
Fairshake will spend $30 million on ads targeting former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio before November, and it expects to unleash additional spending in the “coming days and weeks,” Geoff Vetter, a Fairshake spokesman, told The Washington Sun.
Unlike in years past, though, Fairshake could distribute its $100 million in cash on hand much more heavily for Republicans, said a source familiar with the crypto industry who requested anonymity in order to discuss the political calculations.
“Elizabeth Warren forced her caucus to choose between consumer protection and pure politics,” the source said of Fairshake’s evaluation of who to support.
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Crypto spending historically has been bipartisan, but every Senate Democrat voted to block the industry-backed CLARITY Act over concerns it allowed President Donald Trump and his family to profit from a number of crypto interests. Fairshake and other groups largely held off on spending while the bill was tied up in the chamber.
Now, Democrats like Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who have enjoyed good relationships with crypto groups, are walking a fine line as they try to preserve their standing with the industry.
Slotkin said she continues to speak with crypto groups about Democrats’ position on the industry. Those groups spent about $10 million supporting Slotkin in her 2024 race, a contest she won by only 0.3 percentage points.
“I think it’s important that we have regulation over crypto,” Slotkin said. “I just can’t sign onto a bill that gives permission, literally a handwritten permission slip, to the president of the United States to milk the American people and make money off of them.”
Slotkin’s talks come as Republicans who led CLARITY Act negotiations push for crypto groups to spend big against Democrats. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) called the caucus’ blanket opposition to the bill “shameful.”
“I want them to spend it only on people who voted to proceed on CLARITY,” Lummis said of her hope for crypto groups. She added it would be a “huge mistake” for the industry to help Democrats who she said drew out negotiations, secured 126 amendments to the bill and still stalled it.
Some Democrats involved in those negotiations pushed back. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland), who voted with Republicans to advance the bill out of committee, pointed to Senate Republicans and the president for the bill’s failure.
“Republican leadership shut it down at the very last minute after it became clear that we were on a path to a successful vote,” Alsobrooks said in a statement. “I am proud of the progress we made, and I am determined to keep fighting to regulate this technology.”
Other Democrats said they aren’t discouraged by the threat of spending by the industry. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking committee, cast doubt on the idea that crypto groups were ever bipartisan to begin with.
“They should take [the bill failing] up with Donald Trump,” Warren said. “People across this country are sick of a handful of billionaires who think they can buy every election. The 2026 midterms will put that issue squarely on the table.”
The cryptocurrency industry has historically spent more to support GOP candidates –– Fairshake and its affiliates directed roughly $53 million to Republicans and $33 million to Democrats in 2024.
Brown, who lost his seat in 2024 after the crypto industry spent $40 million in his race, has already begun fundraising off of Fairshake’s spending announcement. Brown preceded Warren as the top Democrat on the banking panel and repeatedly criticized the industry as a sitting senator.
“Of course the special interests are panicking, they know Sherrod will fight the rigged system they’re feasting on to stand up for working Ohioans,” Patrick Eisenhauer, Brown’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
The CLARITY Act did, though, see some opposition from Republicans. Voting with Democrats were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Jerry Moran of Kansas, who largely cited the potential for impacts on small banks in their states.
Banking groups mounted a multi-million dollar lobbying blitz in August to push lawmakers, including many Republicans, to oppose the bill. Fairshake did not answer questions about whether it plans to spend money to defeat any Republican candidates this cycle.
The crypto source suggested that the industry believes the banking industry deserves a significant share of the blame for the CLARITY Act’s failure, and that some groups might not go all in against Democrats who could be in power next year.
“It was really the banks who made a decision to wage war over this issue on this bill,” the source said. “They succeeded.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who defeated Brown in 2024 and has been a champion for crypto interests in the upper chamber, told The Sun he regretted that his conference couldn’t find unity on the bill.
But, Moreno added, supporting any Democratic candidates was “mistake one” for crypto groups. The unified Democratic opposition itself proves that the lobby should continue boosting Republicans ahead of November regardless of a few defections, he said.
“I’m a little disappointed with my three Republican colleagues that we didn’t stick together,” Moreno said. “But look, it was 47 out of 47 Democrats. … They made it clear they wouldn’t even consider the bill.”
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