Crypto Spends $176 Million on Midterms, But Only 13% of Voters See It as a Priority

The crypto industry spent approximately $176 million across more than 100 midterm races this cycle, with super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates accounting for about $150.8 million through October 20. One Fairshake affiliate disclosed more than $46 million in spending against former Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio's Senate race.

Voter priority for crypto policy lags far behind industry spending. Only 13% of Americans say it's extremely or very important that candidates support the growth of emerging financial technologies like blockchain, crypto and decentralized finance, according to an Ipsos survey conducted for the DeFi Education Fund between September 8 and 16. The survey polled 1,545 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

A broader framing performed better in the same survey. About 35% of respondents said it's very important that candidates encourage those building the next generation of financial technology to do so in the U.S. Just 26% rated support for new rules allowing financial system innovation as very important.

The narrower crypto question showed little partisan gap: 15% of Republicans and 13% of Democrats rated it very important. On the broader item about encouraging tech development in the U.S., Republicans led Democrats 45% to 30%.

The crypto industry's spending surge follows the failure of the Clarity Act, which would have set federal rules for crypto markets. The bill failed a key Senate vote in September amid disputes over ethics provisions covering President Donald Trump's crypto interests. Since then, the industry has focused on regulators like the SEC and CFTC to write rules.