Fairshake, a political action committee bankrolled by some of the biggest players in cryptocurrency, including Coinbase Global Inc., Ripple Labs, and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has poured nearly $40 million into Ohio since August to push against anty-crypto Senator Sherrod Brown.
As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Brown’s vote is crucial to any additional cryptocurrency legislation, and the aggressive campaign Fairshake has levied against him showcases the growing political clout of the industry. All current political dynamics underscore how financial might reshapes electoral outcomes, most especially in hotly contested Senate races.
Sherrod Brown’s Senate Seat Under Siege as Crypto PACs Spend Big
Crypto-backed political action committees – Fairshake leading the charge – were spending $800,000 daily by mid-September. The point was flipping Ohio’s Senate seat from longtime Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown to Republican challenger Bernie Moreno.
Brown is a loud critic of cryptocurrency, often citing the harm it poses to the average consumer. Moreno, conversely, is a blockchain entrepreneur who has vowed to be friendly to the industry. Moreno’s $40 million plus in support came from crypto donors. His success in that race would eliminate one of its most strident critics, Sherrod Brown, while helping lock in Republican control of the crypto-Congress.
So far in 2024, the crypto-centric super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates have spent $54.6 million on behalf of Republicans. $33.7M was spent on behalf of Democrats, an advantage of 62% for the GOP.
Pro-Crypto PAC Fairshake has spent over $40 million on efforts to unseat Democratic Ohio Senator @SenSherrodBrown.
Ironically, that could give someone even more anti-crypto — Elizabeth Warren — the power to block crypto legislation.
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— Veronica (@vronirwin) October 23, 2024
Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, which will write the critical legislation regulating cryptocurrencies, is in one of the most powerful positions. Moreover, if he does win re-election, he might be hostile to an industry that has actively worked against him.
If Brown loses his seat but Democrats retain the Senate, that likely puts Elizabeth Warren, the loudest cryptocurrency critic in Congress, the head of the committee.
If you live in Ohio and care about crypto succeeding in America, you should vote for @berniemoreno in the Senate.
His opponent, Sherrod Brown, has been a blocker to sensible crypto legislation in America at every step of the way, refusing to meet with people from the crypto…
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 23, 2024
This is a perilous development for the crypto industry, as it places Warren at the helm. This would allow one of crypto’s most vehement adversaries to delay or defeat legislation that is deemed important. If the elections do not go as Fairshake might like, the bills could sit for at least the next two years.
Crypto Surpasses Traditional Political Boundaries, Appeals to Both Parties
The former acting White House Chief of Staff under the Trump administration, Mick Mulvaney, believes cryptocurrency is an industry surpassing conventional US political limits and borrows from Democrats and Republicans.
Mulvaney said crypto “does not fit neatly into the old Republican, Democrat sort of silos,” showing its bipartisan appeal.
He added that legislators’ thinking, like crypto, must change to accommodate these ideas. Mulvaney also commented on the industry’s maturation. He noted how once purely a grassroots effort has evolved into professional lobbying in Washington.
He said:
“It is a new industry, it’s starting to mature a little bit — not much. I remember about four years ago when I was doing this: their effort in DC was effectively people sitting in their basements writing nasty letters to their lawmakers. Now, they have professional operations.”
Most October polls show the race between Trump and Harris as close, even in some key battleground states. This close competition could allow either candidate to win the Electoral College. Because of this, their positions in emerging industries such as crypto are bound to become quite important.
Former President Donald Trump, who touted himself as a pro-crypto candidate in a September interview, supported the industry. His sons launched a cryptocurrency trading platform called World Liberty Financial in September.
Meanwhile, Vice President Harris has supported regulatory oversight of the sector to protect participants. According to Mulvaney, one of crypto’s most outspoken critics, except Sherrod Brown, is Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Anti-crypto Warren was recently criticized by John Deaton, a pro-XRP lawyer, who called her greedy.
Mulvaney: Crypto’s Political Clout to Surge in 2024 Election
Mick Mulvaney served as White House chief of staff until March 2020, when he was tagged as a US special envoy for Northern Ireland. He later resigned over the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
A contributor to NewsNation now, Mulvaney described the 2024 election cycle as indicative for the cryptocurrency industry, when its clout will be “fascinating to see” as it becomes a more significant factor in the next couple of election cycles.
To that end, the political action committees Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, Protect Progress, and the Commonwealth Unity Fund have spent millions to date in support of the pro-crypto candidates and remove anti-crypto personas such as Sherrod Brown. As such, with only 13 days remaining before elections in the US, attention is shifting to winning last-minute voter support for the candidates sympathetic to crypto.
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