The crypto industry’s biggest “long-term investment” this year may not be on-chain, but in Congress.
A Reuters survey on October 27 found that the crypto industry has spent about $176 million across more than 100 races in this U.S. midterm election cycle. As of October 20, Fairshake and its affiliated PACs had spent about $150.8 million, while other crypto groups had spent around $25 million.
A few points worth noting:
- Fairshake says 53 of the 58 candidates it backed in this year’s primaries and special elections won and will appear on the November 3 ballot.
- Its main funders are Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z. In the previous cycle (2024), Fairshake spent $196 million.
- Most ads are attributed to affiliated PACs such as “Defend American Jobs” and “Protect Progress.” They mostly discuss taxes and immigration, and hardly mention crypto.
- They’re backing candidates from both parties, focusing on people who already have a good chance of winning and could be helpful once in Congress.
My take: this money isn’t trying to persuade voters to buy crypto; it’s prepaying for legislative relationships. The Reuters headline puts it plainly—preparing for the post-Trump era. If favorable policy winds depend on a single administration, they’re too fragile; the industry wants to make that support bipartisan and durable.
There’s another side to consider: voters can hardly tell from the ads that the money comes from the crypto industry, and this kind of controversy will eventually come back to haunt the industry itself.
The first measure of how effective this money is will be whether its 53/58 win rate holds through the November 3 election. For assets like $BTC and $XRP , which are closely tied to regulatory expectations, what really matters going forward is the pace of progress on the market structure bill.
This is not investment advice.