The cryptocurrency industry has spent $288 million on the 2026 U.S. midterm elections as of February 2026, according to data compiled by researcher Molly White — more than double the $130 million deployed across the entire 2024 cycle. Fairshake, the industry's dominant super PAC network, ranks as...
"We cannot allow the crypto industry to own Congress." — Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), Ranking Member, House Financial Services Subcommittee
The cryptocurrency industry has spent $288 million on the 2026 U.S. midterm elections as of February 2026, according to data compiled by researcher Molly White — more than double the $130 million deployed across the entire 2024 cycle. Fairshake, the industry's dominant super PAC network, ranks as the fifth most-funded PAC in the United States, with $193 million in cash on hand at the start of the campaign season.
The spending is concentrated around two legislative objectives: protecting the GENIUS Act's stablecoin framework from restrictive amendments and advancing the CLARITY Act market structure bill through the Senate. Early primary results show a mixed record — Fairshake-backed candidates swept Texas and North Carolina primaries in March but lost an estimated $10 million bet against Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in Illinois's Democratic Senate primary. The PAC network now targets races in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Texas ahead of November.
Total crypto industry political expenditure for the 2026 midterm cycle: $288 million as of February 2026, per Molly White's Follow the Crypto tracker. The comparable figure at the same point in the 2024 cycle was approximately $130 million total across the entire election.
Breakdown of deployment as of April 2026:
| Metric | Amount | |--------|--------| | Total spent (as of Feb 2026) | $288M+ | | Fairshake cash on hand (Jan 2026) | $193M | | Unspent reserves across all crypto PACs | $221M | | Spending on Texas races (Apr 2026) | $2.5M+ | | Total candidates backed (all cycles) | 58+ | | Win rate (2024 cycle) | 91% (53/58) |
At $28 million spent on individual candidates at this stage of the cycle, the pace exceeds the $22 million deployed at the same point in the 2024 election. The industry has allocated approximately 40% of spending to Republican candidates, 3% to Democrats, and the remainder to non-partisan races, according to White's data.
Fairshake operates as a network of three affiliated super PACs:
Top cumulative donors to the Fairshake network:
| Donor | Cumulative Contribution | |-------|------------------------| | Coinbase | $56M | | Ripple | $48M | | Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) | ~$60M |
In the second half of 2025 alone, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz contributed $49 million combined. Coinbase donated $25 million in the first half of 2025.
Additional crypto PACs active in the 2026 cycle include:
The March 2026 Texas and North Carolina primaries provided the first test of Fairshake's 2026 strategy.
Wins (March 2026):
| Candidate | Race | Vote Share | PAC Spend | |-----------|------|-----------|-----------| | Jessica Steinmann (R) | TX-8 | ~70% | Undisclosed | | Chris Gober (R) | TX-10 | 50%+ | $92,000+ | | Trever Nehls (R) | TX-22 | 76% | Undisclosed | | French Hill (R) | AR primary | 77% | $400,000+ | | Tim Moore (R) | NC primary | 83% | $80,000+ |
Losses (March 2026 — Illinois):
| Candidate Opposed | Race | PAC Spend | Result | |-------------------|------|-----------|--------| | Juliana Stratton (D) | IL Senate | ~$10M opposing | Won primary | | La Shawn Ford (D) | IL House | ~$2.5M opposing | Won primary |
The Illinois results represent a significant capital loss — approximately $12.5 million spent with no return. However, Fairshake did secure three Illinois House wins backing Donna Miller, Melissa Bean, and Nikki Budzinski.
Fairshake and Stand With Crypto have publicly identified priority races across four states:
Texas:
Ohio:
Pennsylvania:
New York:
The $288 million deployment is tied to two specific legislative outcomes:
1. GENIUS Act (Stablecoin Framework) Passed the House 308-122 with bipartisan support (206 Republicans, 102 Democrats). The law creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The critical remaining dispute: whether to prohibit stablecoin issuers from offering yield/interest to holders. Banks argue the provision has a loophole that could trigger deposit withdrawals. The White House sided with crypto firms, finding that "a yield prohibition would do very little to protect bank lending."
2. CLARITY Act (Market Structure) Passed the House 294-134. Stalled in the Senate, where the Banking Committee postponed a markup vote in April amid disputes over stablecoin yield provisions and concerns about President Trump's family crypto ventures. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act on January 29, 2026, but the two chambers' bills must be reconciled before final passage.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has publicly pressed Congress to pass both bills. The White House is increasing pressure as the legislative window narrows.
Calculating the economic efficiency of crypto PAC spending:
2024 cycle:
2026 cycle (to date):
The data suggests diminishing returns in contested Democratic primaries where crypto is framed as an opposition force rather than a bipartisan issue. Republican primaries, where Fairshake-backed candidates aligned with the Trump administration, showed higher capital efficiency.
The scale of crypto PAC spending has generated institutional pushback:
Stand With Crypto's internal polling shows 74% of crypto owners are more likely to support candidates favoring clearer regulatory frameworks, with 80% describing themselves as "almost certain" to vote in 2026. The organization has endorsed six members of Congress in its first round: Representatives Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), Susie Lee (D-Nevada), Mike Lawler (R-New York), Don Davis (D-North Carolina), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), and Rob Bresnahan (R-Pennsylvania).
The crypto industry's $288 million midterm spend represents the largest single-industry political investment in a non-presidential U.S. election cycle since the Citizens United era. The economic logic is straightforward: favorable regulatory outcomes (GENIUS Act yield provisions, CLARITY Act passage) directly affect the business models of Fairshake's donors. Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies stand to benefit materially from regulatory clarity.
However, the Illinois results demonstrate that capital alone does not guarantee electoral outcomes, particularly in Democratic primaries where crypto lobbying can be framed as a corporate capture narrative. The industry's 91% win rate from 2024 faces a more complex operating environment in 2026, where the TRUMP token controversy and presidential conflict-of-interest questions have muddied the bipartisan framing that drove earlier legislative victories.
The remaining $221 million in reserves will be deployed across an estimated 30–50 races between now and November. Whether this capital produces regulatory returns depends less on electoral victories than on the Senate Banking Committee's resolution of the stablecoin yield dispute — a policy question that no amount of campaign spending can directly address.