Dem
51
GOP
49
The crypto industry's super PAC, Fairshake, spent $10 million trying to take down Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) in the California Senate race. She indeed went down, though it is not clear Fairshake played much of a role there. But with more than $80 million in actual money (not bitcoins) in the bank, the group is now planning to target the two most vulnerable Senate Democrats, Jon Tester (D-MT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
The industry wants to shape federal legislation to be favorable to crypto and is not keen on senators who say it is a scam. Brown is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and has said: "Crypto appeals to crime rings and scam artists." Tester is also on the Banking Committee and said: "Crypto hasn't been able to pass the smell test for me."
This election won't be the first one in which the crypto industry spent millions trying to influence the outcome. In 2022, then crypto-millionaire Sam Bankman-Fried spent tens of millions of actual dollars on congressional races. Then his crypto exchange, FTX, went bust and he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. The crypto industry would like the memory of that to go away. (V)