The U.S. cryptocurrency industry has flexed its campaign finance muscle to help unseat veteran incumbents and elevate new allies in Texas and other states as the congressional midterm season approaches full speed, although the arrival of new political action committees may call into question the sector’s meticulous bipartisanship.
Fairshake remains an unrivaled conduit for millions of old-fashioned US dollars to steer primaries, but other crypto super PAC names have slipped into the conversation, becoming louder in the wake of this week’s Texas primary. And collective spending on cryptocurrencies is already helping to have real consequences for the next Congress.
The most recent Texas runoff elections illustrated the growing reach of the cryptocurrency industry in politics, with Fairshake targeting and helping to unseat a longtime Democratic member of the House of Representatives, crypto critic Al Green, and one of the new PACs supporting a Republican Senate candidate. Fellowship’s super PAC, partnered with Tether and Cantor Fitzgerald, backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s defeat of the incumbent Republican with $500,000.
While House elections are often won or lost on hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, Fairshake spent $6.5 million to get U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee to advance in Green’s place. The Blockchain Leadership Fund (recently established with inaugural donations from Anchorage Digital and Chainlink) also endorsed and donated to Menefee, who won Tuesday’s unusual runoff between two incumbents facing each other through redistricting and is expected to win the November general election in his Democratic-dominated district.
Throughout the Texas primary, Fairshake also endorsed a slate of Republicans seeking seats in the House of Representatives, including Alex Mealer ($453,000), Tom Sell ($426,000), Carlos De La Cruz ($607,000) and Jon Bonck ($348,000), scoring dominant victories in districts generally considered likely for Republicans later this year.
But crypto experts consider the removal of Al Green, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, a major victory. Green criticized the dangers the industry could pose to consumers and voted against crypto policy legislation, while also co-sponsored a bill seeking to ban President Trump from his personal interests in the crypto business.
southern victories
The Texas successes come on top of Fairshake’s recent sweep of the $20 million it spent supporting candidates in the Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia primaries. Two of the Republicans in those states were also endorsed by Fellowship: U.S. Rep. Andy Barr in his Senate race in Kentucky and U.S. Rep. Barry Moore’s Senate campaign in Alabama, which still faces a runoff.
However, the industry has also experienced setbacks, most notably in Illinois, where Fairshake spent more than $10 million trying to defeat Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton en route to her victory in the Democratic primary in March, meaning a crypto candidate is likely to make it to the Senate next year.
For a crypto industry that maintains around two dozen different political organizations in the lobbying and advocacy space and continually establishes new ones, the dominance of a single super PAC has been noteworthy. However, it doesn’t really come from any unifying sentiment across the sector, but from the fact that a trio of major crypto companies have been willing to devote so much money to politics: major backers Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z.
Those running Fairshake have routinely declined to answer questions about their decision-making and strategy since the fund’s early days, and a spokesperson declined to comment for this article. But the mega PAC now has a significant track record to demonstrate its strategy, which has involved carefully seeking a balance between Republican and Democratic candidates to underpin its support. Organizers created two affiliated PACs to operate through: Protect Progress (for Democrats) and Defend American Jobs (for Republicans). And those weapons have sought to bolster victories in primary elections, especially in districts or states where one party is dominant and the primaries will essentially decide who wins the November general election.
However, the party’s balance may be tilting this year, judging by the Republican affiliate’s increased funding in its most recent filings to the Federal Election Commission. But even as his endorsement of Republican candidates becomes more important, Fairshake has illustrated that his goal has nothing to do with traditional political ideology and everything to do with friendly crypto politics. He buys ads for his favorite candidates, using whatever political messaging will help get that particular Republican or Democrat elected, and he almost never mentions cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrency industry’s campaign funding is not going unnoticed by members of Congress currently attempting to debate digital asset policy, including the Senate’s bipartisan effort to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that represents the primary political goal of cryptocurrency lobbyists. But the strategy to build bipartisan crypto support on Capitol Hill is not the apparent goal of some other PACs.
republican inclination
Gemini brothers at the top, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, created the Digital Freedom Fund with $21 million to support Republican candidates and President Donald Trump’s crypto agenda, although the PAC has yet to burst onto the political scene.
And the new Fellowship PAC, established with about $11 million (well short of the $100 million originally pledged), has contributed solely to Republican support in several elections. All but two of the Republican candidates chosen by Fellowship have Trump’s personal endorsement, and the remaining two are in crowded fields where the president did not make a choice. The PAC’s alignment with the president’s policy was hinted at in the first press release touting his founding in support of what the administration had begun to implement in crypto politics. However, its president stated that he is not determined to support the Republican Party.
“The fellowship will also provide bipartisan support,” Jesse Spiro, president of the super PAC, said on stage at Consensus Miami 2026 earlier this month. “It’s not partisan. In that sense, there will be candidates who support innovation in the US, who support cryptocurrencies, who support the ecosystem.”
What is less certain is the nature of its support. Although foreign companies cannot participate directly in US elections, the fund has been associated with Tether since its inception, when an anonymous press release promised it would be a $100 million campaign finance giant that would champion transparency. Since then, a Tether executive, Spiro, emerged as its president, but its treasurer and main initial contribution came from Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether’s American financial partner who manages the stablecoin leader’s reserves.
So far, the millions in ads it has bought for Republicans (the bulk, $629,000, going to Barr in Kentucky) have been broadcast through Nxum Group, a company co-founded by Tether’s US CEO Bo Hines (Trump’s former crypto advisor). Nxum has launched several ads across the country, and some of those produced by the fledgling political firm have apparently leaned toward AI-powered video production.
Spiro did not respond to messages seeking comment. Federal PAC documents indicate it may have spent most of its initial funds.
The industry’s Republican emphasis outside of Fairshake comes at a time when the party is beset by the math of the midterm elections. Trump’s declining popularity in the polls has reduced the party’s already weak chances of maintaining its majority in the House next year. Industry-backed Republicans in this year’s elections may find themselves in the minority in Congress next year and less able to direct crypto policy.
Bettors on the Kalshi prediction markets platform (whose own regulatory fate could be influenced by these political outcomes) put Democrats at a 77% chance of winning the House majority. They suggest that the Democratic Party’s toughest path to winning enough Senate seats puts its chances of winning a majority in the upper chamber at 46%.
Following the industry’s initial strategy to support candidates from both parties, the Blockchain Leadership Fund backed by Anchorage Digital and Chainlink has so far had a modest start, focusing on smaller organic contributions directly to candidates’ own campaigns.
Its president, Jennifer Holdsworth, told CoinDesk that the fund was “proud to back several candidates who won their primaries yesterday.” He said the result made clear that “voters want leaders who will keep digital asset innovation, jobs and opportunities here at home.”
Anchorage Digital also contributed funding to the Fellowship. Kevin Wysocki, the crypto bank’s head of policy, said its commitment to both PACs is intended to reflect its “commitment to investing in bipartisan policy outcomes.”
“Cryptocurrency’s biggest legislative victories, including the enactment of the GENIUS Act, have come from the thoughtful leadership of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle,” he said in a statement to CoinDesk.
Other crypto interests, the Solana Policy Institute and Multicoin Capital, have partially backed a separate PAC: the Sentinel Action Fund. Sentinel launched an aggressive $8 million spending campaign against Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown’s attempt to return to the US Senate, where he had previously led the Senate Banking Committee and stymied cryptocurrency legislation. Most recently, he is supporting Republican Mike Rogers’ bid for the Michigan Senate with nearly $900,000 in spending.
But none of the other PACs come remotely close to the scale of Fairshake, which had boasted $193 million in purchasing power before the election season began. It is not only the leading crypto campaign fund, but also a leading super PAC across all US political industries and organizations.
With U.S. House veteran Green going down in flames this week, a Fairshake spokesperson, Geoff Vetter, called it proof that “hostility against cryptocurrencies carries consequences.” It’s a message that industry money is making clear, even as lawmakers up for election this year continue to work on (or oppose) cryptocurrency legislation.
