The pro-cryptocurrency super PAC Fairshake is flexing its financial muscles and supporting a bipartisan cast of candidates, hoping its unique strategy of donating to safe seats will help ensure that lawmakers pursue policies friendly to the industry.
Cryptocurrency companies became a political force to be reckoned with in the 2024 election. Leading that effort was Fairshake, and its spending has not let up even though 2026 is only a midterm election year.
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While most political super PACs might target candidates in tight races or donate solely to candidates of a certain party or ideological slant, Fairshake is pouring money into a wide array of races and on behalf of members of both parties, a strategy that experts say is unique among comparable groups.
“Candidates in safe seats typically don’t need outside spending because they’re going to get reelected anyway,” Brendan Fischer, the Campaign Legal Center’s director of strategic investigations, told the Washington Examiner during an interview.
“This is a unique aspect of Fairshake’s strategy,” he continued. “The fact that Fairshake is spending money in safe seats indicates that the super PAC is using its war chest to maintain and build relationships with lawmakers, not exclusively to help lawmakers in competitive districts get elected.”
Part of Fairshake’s strategy is also to spend heavily in primary races to elevate pro-crypto candidates in safe seats. It had some successes and some failures in primaries this year.
What is Fairshake?
Fairshake is a massive super PAC financed by the cryptocurrency industry with vast resources. During the last election cycle, in 2024, the group and its affiliates spent more than $133 million to help elect pro-crypto candidates to Congress.
Fairshake operates two affiliate PACs: Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress. Defend American Jobs aids Republicans and Protect Progress donates to Democrats.
And Fairshake has a lot of money to spend.
An analysis of cash on hand by OpenSecrets found that Fairshake’s war chest through Aug. 31 was $120 million, which is the last available reported data. Since then, it has reported spending $60 million in independent expenditures, Brendan Glavin, director of insights for OpenSecrets, told the Washington Examiner via email.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Fairshake to discuss its strategy for the campaign cycle but did not receive a response.
Fairshake’s major donors include the biggest players in the crypto space, with crypto company Coinbase leading donations during the last election cycle. Other major donors include Ripple Labs as well as venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
“Fairshake supports candidates committed to securing the United States as the home to innovators building the next generation of the internet,” the PAC says on its website. “Providing blockchain innovators the ability to develop their networks under a clearer regulatory and legal framework is vital if the broader open blockchain economy is to grow to its full potential here in the United States.”
The candidates
Fairshake announced earlier this month that it intends to support 32 candidates in the House of Representatives. Of those, 19 are Republicans and 13 are Democrats.
“Fairshake has always been and always will be an issue-focused organization,” spokesman Geoff Vetter said in a statement, according to Politico. “We back pro-crypto candidates who support American innovation in both parties.”
Of that group, six will receive in excess of $1 million. Three are Republicans who sit on the House Financial Services Committee, which deals with crypto legislation: Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Bryan Steil (R-WI).
The Democrats receiving over $1 million are Reps. Janelle Bynum (D-OR), Steven Horsford (D-NV), and Derek Tran (D-CA).
Some of the candidates that Fairshake is supporting are in leadership positions. For instance, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.
Notably, all but four of the candidates that Fairshake is supporting are in seats considered safe by the Cook Political Report.
“Most of them are either in solid Democrat or Republican districts,” Glavin said.
The strategy
Michael Beckel, the money in politics reform director for Issue One, a group trying to reduce money in politics, told the Washington Examiner that, given crypto has become one of the “hottest” topics in Washington, the industry is trying to use campaign finance as part of a show-of-strength strategy.
“The cryptocurrency industry is trying to flex its muscles through massive political spending,” Beckel said. “An industry is able to use a super PAC like Fairshake to send strong messages to members of Congress. The signal the crypto industry is trying to send is clear: ‘We have deep pockets, and we’ll invest significant sums to help our friends in tight races, and we’ll spend large sums against you if you cross us.’”
Molly White, a crypto researcher who publishes the Citation Needed newsletter, told the Washington Examiner that supporting both parties in the midterm elections is how Fairshake came to prominence in 2024.
“I think it’s a mix of two things — I think, one, they’re supporting their allies, so it’s a way to sort of reward those who have voted in favor of legislation that the crypto industry has been pushing for, and a way to incentivize them to continue to do that,” she said.
But White said part of the strategy might be to help the network to “sort of juice its numbers” and make claims that the overwhelming majority of candidates that the Fairshake network supported won their races.
“And you’ll see them make claims after various wins, whether it’s primary or general, that this is an indication of how much Americans actually support crypto and so forth,” she added.
Fairshake’s strategy of bifurcating PACs for Republicans and Democrats could become a model for other industry-backed political groups.
“I think Fairshake pioneered that strategy, and it’s one that’s been replicated with the AI networks of super PACs that have popped up this election cycle,” Fischer said.
Fischer said that the Anthropic network of super PACs has adopted a similar model featuring an umbrella organization and then PACs supporting Democrats and Republicans.
“You know, it’s pretty new to have a super PAC network that is separately supporting both Republicans and Democrats — and it’s an evolution,” Fischer added.
But Fairshake hasn’t just invested in safe races. It also invested heavily in the primaries to mixed success.
For instance, Fairshake spent some $10 million opposing Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s primary bid for Senate in the reliably Democratic state. Stratton ended up beating her closest challenger, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), by a decent margin. White mentioned the Stratton race as a notable loss for Fairshake.
“There were some defeats for the crypto PACs in 2024, but I think that was a pretty big one,” she said. “And you know we saw the crypto spending become at least a talking point in that race, if not a major issue.”
But in another race, for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, Maryland Democratic state Rep. Adrian Boafo, backed by the crypto network, emerged victorious after Protect Progress spent $5.5 million in the race.
Notably, Fairshake has also spent big in Ohio — essentially a replay of its strategy there in 2024, when it helped Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) defeat the incumbent, Sherrod Brown. Notably, Brown was the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
This go-around, Brown is running for Senate again against incumbent Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), and Fairshake has committed $30 million to beating Brown once more — the largest spend from the industry in a single race this year. In 2024, Fairshake committed $40 million in spending against Brown.
“He’s generally been a critic of the crypto industry, and you know that’s why they’ve gone after him,” Glavin said.
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And while Fairshake spent enormous sums in 2024, some expect the group to surpass that level of funding in the midterm election cycle this year.
“I do think we’ll break that $130 million figure this cycle,” White predicted.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
