Crypto’s $200 Million Bet: Inside the Fairshake Network in 2026

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The cryptocurrency industry's political operation entered the 2026 midterms with a war chest of nearly $200 million, about $60 million more than it had in 2024 (Axios). Two years after it helped defeat several of the industry's critics, the network built around the Fairshake super PAC is spending heavily again, and this time the backlash has become a campaign issue of its own.

How the network is built

Fairshake runs as three linked super PACs, each aimed at a different audience:

Committee Focus Spent through Oct. 5
Fairshake The main fund; transfers money to the other two and runs its own ads Part of the $97 million combined total
Defend American Jobs Supports Republicans $56.1 million
Protect Progress Supports Democrats $27.6 million

Source: OpenSecrets. Counted as one operation, the three groups' $97 million would rank fifth among all outside spenders this cycle. Protect Progress shares a mailing address with Fairshake, at a UPS Store in Minnesota.

The money comes mostly from three sources: the exchange Coinbase, the payments company Ripple, and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (CoinDesk). Fairshake itself raised $138.2 million in the 2025–26 cycle through October 14 and had $33.0 million left in cash, down from $108.3 million at the end of August as it moved money into the fall campaign (our tracker).

Where the money has gone

The network's biggest fight is a rematch. In 2024, Fairshake spent about $40 million against Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, then chair of the Senate Banking Committee, and he lost (CoinDesk). Brown is running again, against Republican Sen. Jon Husted, and the network has put more than $40 million into the race this time (CoinDesk). Much of it has gone to positive ads for Husted: Defend American Jobs had spent nearly $30 million praising him by October 20 (Ohio Capital Journal).

The primaries produced a mixed record:

Race Spending Result
Alabama Senate, Republican primary About $12 million backing Rep. Barry Moore Moore won the nomination (CoinDesk)
Kentucky Senate, Republican primary More than $7 million backing Rep. Andy Barr Barr won with over 60% (CoinDesk)
Georgia 13th District, Democratic primary $4.2 million backing Jasmine Clark Clark won (CoinDesk)
Illinois Senate, Democratic primary More than $10 million opposing Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton Stratton won (CoinDesk)
Florida House, Democratic primary $2 million opposing Oliver Gilbert Gilbert won (CoinDesk)

Fairshake says it has backed a large majority of primary winners this year (CoinDesk). In 2024, its support helped about 53 members of Congress win, roughly one in ten lawmakers (CoinDesk).

Ads that don't mention crypto

One thing the network's ads rarely do is talk about cryptocurrency. A Fairshake spokesman confirmed that its ads don't mention it (CoinDesk). In Illinois, its ads against Stratton tied her to former House Speaker Mike Madigan, who was convicted on corruption charges (Axios). This is the same approach the group used in 2024, when its $10 million campaign against Katie Porter in California attacked her on other issues (The Guardian via Yahoo).

Critics say this keeps voters from learning why an industry wants a candidate gone. "I think people are worried about super PACs because they're not accountable," Northwestern law professor Michael Kang told Axios (Axios). Fairshake's answer is that it is free to choose its message, and that its goal, as a spokesman put it in 2024, is to back leaders who "champion the interests of progressive innovation and responsible regulation" (The Guardian via Yahoo).

Bipartisan by design, lopsided in dollars

The three-committee structure lets the industry back candidates in both parties, and it does: Protect Progress supports Democrats, and Democrat Jasmine Clark was one of the network’s primary wins. But CoinDesk notes that the network's largest spending has mostly gone to help Republicans or oppose Democrats (CoinDesk). Defend American Jobs has spent about twice as much as Protect Progress this cycle (OpenSecrets).

Crypto money also reaches Republicans outside the Fairshake network. Crypto companies and executives are the top industry donors to MAGA Inc., with nearly $89 million in contributions, according to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank (CoinDesk). See Where Has MAGA Inc.'s Money Gone?

What the industry wants

The industry's top priority in Washington is the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would set rules for how crypto assets are regulated. It stalled in the Senate in September, after Democrats demanded stronger ethics rules covering federal officials, including the president, and its odds of passing this year now look slim (CoinDesk).

That gives the election direct stakes for the industry. If Democrats win the Senate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of crypto's sharpest critics, is widely expected to chair the Banking Committee (CoinDesk). The Blockchain Association, an industry trade group, says it wants rules that "don't depend on who sits in the White House or who controls Congress" (CoinDesk).

The backlash

The industry's spending has itself become campaign material. Brown has made crypto and data-center money a central theme in Ohio: "The crypto/data-center crowd are up to $40 million now," he said. "They know I'm going to hold them accountable." Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia has run an ad tying Trump's crypto memecoin to corruption, and several Democratic primary candidates, including Stratton and Gilbert, attacked crypto money directly and won (CoinDesk).

Supporters of the industry's strategy point to its record: it has backed far more winners than losers, and members of both parties now court its support. Whether the spending can survive a political climate in which voters rank corruption as a top concern, and crypto near the bottom of their priorities, is the question November 3 will start to answer (CoinDesk).

For the full picture of outside money this year, see The Republicans Getting the Most Super PAC Support in 2026 and The Democrats Getting the Most Super PAC Support in 2026. Fairshake's 2024 campaign against Porter is one of the cases in The Most Controversial Super PAC Spending of the Last Decade.

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