Crypto industry pours more than $200 million into 2026 midterms to pressure Congress on favorable rules

A test of influence

November’s elections will test crypto’s continued influence on Washington.

The crypto industry is laser-focused on the Ohio Senate race between Democratic nominee, and former Senator, Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto critic, and Republican Jon Husted, who is pro-crypto and currently holds the seat.

Fairshake spent about $40 million to unseat Brown in 2024, when the then-Senate Banking Committee chairman had promoted tougher crypto regulation and stalled a House-passed market-structure bill. The super PAC this cycle told CNBC it has already spent $55 million to oppose Brown.

A Marist poll conducted Oct. 15-18 showed Brown holding a four-point edge over Husted among likely voters statewide, within the margin of error of 4.5%.

“A lot of these races are going to be extremely tight,” said Mason Lynaugh, executive director of the advocacy group Stand With Crypto, launched by Coinbase in 2023. 

This election cycle, Stand With Crypto has endorsed a total of 45 candidates, 42 in the House of Representatives and three in the Senate.  

Lynaugh told CNBC one of the reasons the group endorses candidates is because of their legislative record.

“We want to show that when we execute our program and we turn out those thousands or tens of thousands of Stand With Crypto advocates in these districts we are credibly ensuring that they get what they deserve for supporting crypto from the community that supports them,” he added. 

Money well-spent?

Digital assets and infrastructure company Ripple spent a total of $63.65 million in federal contributions last election, according to OpenSecrets, and the company is spending millions again now. Ripple donated $25 million in 2025, according to Fairshake.

Asked if the crypto industry got a good return on its investment, Stu Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, told CNBC, “I think compared to where the industry was two years ago to where the industry is today, yes, I would say that that is a very good return.” 

Alderoty pointed to the GENIUS Act, which established the first federal framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins. President Trump signed the bill into law in July 2025, the first-ever standalone crypto legislation in the United States. 

Alderoty noted that the industry has gotten clearer rules from both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission. He also pointed to advancements for the industry from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, noting that Ripple received final OCC approval this week to charter Ripple National Trust Bank, a federally supervised national trust bank.

But the latest guidelines from these agencies aren’t meant to replace legislation from Congress, and the window to pass new laws for crypto may be closing.

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, now a board member of the crypto exchange OKX, told CNBC that lawmaking is unlikely if Congress changes hands in January.

“You’re going to have a Democratic Congress overseeing an administration, the Trump administration, where the regulators are making decisions under the scrutiny of a hostile Congress, and that is not a good place to be because the Congress will be at loggerheads with the administration,” he said.

Horsford, the Nevada congressman, told CNBC that time is of the essence.

“Every stakeholder needs to stay at the table and to continue to make the case why legislation is needed,” he said.

If the Clarity Act doesn’t advance before the end of the year, Congress will have to start from scratch on a new market structure bill for digital assets. And crypto super PACs are hoping their spending still has the influence to shape which lawmakers work on the next round of legislation.

“Regardless of who is elected in Congress, we’re going to continue to see more regulatory clarity in this space,” Coinbase’s VanGrack, a former SEC senior advisor, told CNBC. 

“It may be an open question whether we get all the way across the goal line, but it’s not an open question about whether we’re going to have progress and continue to see progress in terms of regulatory clarity in crypto,” VanGrack added. 

— CNBC’s Luke Fountain contributed to this report. 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/31/crypto-industry-spends-more-than-200-million-to-sway-the-midterms.html