Crypto firms pour $206M into midterms, Fairshake leads

An analysis of Federal Election Commission records shows crypto-linked companies contributed $206 million to super PACs and hybrid PACs through the second quarter of 2026, the largest disclosed corporate total in this midterm cycle.

Fairshake, a central committee in the network, reported $137.9 million in receipts and $93.9 million in disbursements through Aug. 31, and listed $108.3 million in cash on hand. The committee transferred $70 million to two affiliated PACs: Defend American Jobs received $37 million and Protect Progress received $33 million, including a $5 million transfer on Aug. 7.

Major donors tied to the Fairshake network include Coinbase at $56.1 million, which includes a $23 million Bitcoin donation dated December 2024; Ripple Labs at $48.5 million; Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz with $24 million combined in personal contributions; and Digital Currency Group at $1 million. Those donor totals cover a narrower set of filings than the $206 million total and should not be added together.

Independent-expenditure trackers attribute roughly $70 million in spending by committees linked to the Fairshake network across 54 races. Within that tracked spending, about $32.5 million supported Republican candidates, $21.3 million supported Democratic candidates, and $15.6 million paid for ads opposing Democratic candidates; the tracker shows no recorded spending opposing Republican candidates. Alabama Senate candidate Barry Moore received about $12.2 million in support, Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr about $7.2 million, and Illinois Senate candidate Juliana Stratton faced roughly $9.7 million in opposition spending after Fairshake activity in a primary.

Other crypto-linked political programs operate outside those independent-expenditure totals. Stand With Crypto has endorsed 38 House candidates and reports over three million advocates registered on its platform; its endorsement and voter-mobilization work is not recorded as PAC independent expenditures. Fellowship PAC has raised about $11 million, including a $10 million contribution from Cantor Fitzgerald, and has spent $4.45 million in independent expenditures across 12 races. Sentinel Action Fund, supported in part by the Solana Policy Institute and Multicoin Capital, has backed Ohio Republican Jon Husted as part of a broader conservative operation.

Digital Freedom Fund reported $22.4 million in receipts and $22 million in disbursements through June 30, listed $0 in independent expenditures for that period, and showed $381,746 in cash on hand. FEC filings indicate about $21.3 million in payments from the committee to Winklevoss Capital Fund LLC, an entity identified as a principal donor.

Fairshake announced a $30 million commitment on Sept. 21 to oppose Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown; a Fairshake spokesperson confirmed the pledge and indicated that more than $90 million remained available for the general election after that commitment. The announcement followed a Senate procedural vote six days earlier that failed to advance the CLARITY Act by a 49-50 margin.

FEC filings and independent-expenditure records show funds in the crypto political network have been allocated to transfers between affiliated committees, payments to related entities, recorded independent expenditures, and endorsement and mobilization activities that are not captured in PAC independent-expenditure tallies.