The crypto industry has emerged as among the leading forces shaping the election landscape in the U.S. During the 2024 presidential election, the industry spent more than $190 million.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the billionaire twins who co-founded the Gemini crypto trading exchange, were the biggest individual crypto donors, spending more than $10 million during last year’s election cycle.
Top Ripple executives collectively spent more than $3 million on candidate committees and super political action committees (PACs).
Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong also spent more than $1.3 million on different PACs.
Related: Court gives another shocking verdict in Ripple and SEC case
The crypto industry, which faced a slew of combative regulatory actions during the Joe Biden era, donated millions of dollars to pro-crypto candidates across the political spectrum, though the Republican Party was a clear favorite.
The effort paid dividends.
After the Republican Party emerged victorious and Donald Trump assumed the office of the White House, the crypto industry could take a sigh of relief as most regulatory cases took a back seat or lost momentum.
Now, the crypto industry is gearing up for the 2026 midterm elections.
As per the latest report by Bloomberg, the crypto industry has built a $263 million war chest to support pro-crypto candidates across the U.S.
According to OpenSecrets data, the amount is more than what the entire oil and gas industry spent in 2024.
Fairshake, the PAC funded by the crypto industry, leads with $141 million in funding at the end of June. Among the leading Fairshake donors are:
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Coinbase
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Ripple
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Andreessen Horowitz
The Digital Freedom Fund, a PAC supported by the Winklevoss twins, is not far behind with $21 million in Bitcoin donations.
Fellowship PAC, a newly formed PAC reportedly backed by the leading stablecoin company Tether, has committed to spend $100 million during the midterms.
Cody Carbone, CEO of a Washington-based advocacy group, The Digital Chamber, said,
“The success that the industry had in 2024 created a road map or a blueprint where, whether you’re an industry CEO or you’re just a consumer of the industry, you have shown that crypto has a voice and can impact elections.”
Trump signed the GENIUS Act regarding stablecoin regulation into law. The CLARITY, Anti-CBDC, and Market Structure legislation are works in progress. However, the industry is also reaching out to the other side of the aisle.
Chainlink Labs co-founder Sergey Nazarov, who recently met lawmakers in Washington, said that while Republicans have made it clear that they are aligned with the industry’s priorities, the Democrats have concerns about the use of crypto in money laundering.
“I don’t think that the Democrats have gotten to that point in understanding our industry — they are worried about illicit finance.”
The midterms will take place in November 2026, in which all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested to determine the 120th U.S. Congress.
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Oct 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the Business News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
