Democrats Brace for a Crypto PAC Cash Avalanche

After Senate Democrats blocked a bill to regulate cryptocurrency on the Senate floor last week, the industry’s major Super PAC network announced the first installment in what is expected to be a heavy wave of spending before the midterm elections.

Fairshake will spend $30 million on ads targeting former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio before November, and it expects to unleash additional spending in the “coming days and weeks,” Geoff Vetter, a Fairshake spokesman, told The Washington Sun.

Unlike in years past, though, Fairshake could distribute its $100 million in cash on hand much more heavily for Republicans, said a source familiar with the crypto industry who requested anonymity in order to discuss the political calculations.

“Elizabeth Warren forced her caucus to choose between consumer protection and pure politics,” the source said of Fairshake’s evaluation of who to support.

Crypto spending historically has been bipartisan,butevery Senate Democrat voted to block the industry-backed CLARITY Act over concerns it allowed President Donald Trump and his family to profit from a number of crypto interests. Fairshake and other groups largely held off on spending while the bill was tied up in the chamber.