54 out of 58 Crypto Super PAC-backed US candidates prevail

The cryptocurrency sector has marked a notable milestone in the just-concluded US elections, with more than 90% of industry-backed candidates sweeping congressional races.

The move comes after crypto Political Action Committees (PACs) raised more than $238 million for candidates through corporate contributions and personal donations from major players in the space.

Impressive wins, few losses

According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, with most vote counts done, Fairshake and its affiliated PACs, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs, have won 52 races, suffered one defeat in the general election, and they have faced four defeats during the primaries.

Also, vote counting continues in five races. Three crypto candidates are reported to be losing, while two are leading their respective polls.

One of the most significant wins for crypto PACs was the ouster of digital asset critic Sherrod Brown, who lost in Ohio to blockchain entrepreneur Bernie Moreno. Brown, who until his defeat was the Senate bench chairman, was undone by a $40 million campaign that saw a PAC pay for five prime-time ads to boost Moreno’s visibility.

Although he had initially dismissed the threat of the crypto industry’s support for Moreno, Brown was left ruing his position after the relatively unknown luxury car dealer beat him by more than 211,000 votes to win the seat of the Ohio Senate.

Among the setbacks was the notable defeat of Democratic incumbent Dr. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado’s 8th District. Fairshake reportedly poured more than $2 million to support his campaign, but GOP challenger Gabe Evans emerged victorious.

The Republican, who the Stand With Crypto website had labeled as having “no position on crypto,” beat “strongly” pro-crypto Caraveo by about 2,500 votes. According to Terrett, the congresswoman conceded her race to Evans with about 97% of the votes already counted.

Massive spending, clear goals

Analyzes by blockchain data firm Breadcrumbs and Fox Business indicate that the crypto industry made a deliberate effort to reshape Washington’s perspective on cryptocurrencies, channeling its financial muscle to support multiple pro-crypto candidates on the sidelines and side of the American political divide.

Biggest contributors included Coinbase, Ripple, and venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z. Together, the three invested $160 million in a select few super PACs to support politicians advocating favorable crypto regulatory frameworks.

Coinbase alone gave $75 million to crypto PACs, including a new pledge of $25 million for the upcoming midterm elections scheduled for 2026.

Ripple and Coinbase have fallen foul of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions. The former was fined $125 million after being found guilty of violations of securities laws, although it won certain aspects of the case, namely that the programmatic sales of its XRP tokens did not violate said laws.

Overall, Stand With Crypto says 262 pro-crypto lawmakers made it to Congress, compared to about 123 who took the opposite view.

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