Crypto Industry’s Investment in Ohio Senate Race Yields Results
In a closely contested race for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, Republican candidate Bernie Moreno secured a significant advantage leading up to the election. This boost came in the form of a $40 million infusion from the cryptocurrency industry, which financed advertisements across the state.
This financial commitment was part of a wide-ranging, multi-state campaign by crypto firms aimed at influencing numerous crucial congressional races. On Tuesday, the investment appeared to pay off. Mr. Moreno, a long-time supporter of cryptocurrency, defeated Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who chairs the influential Senate Banking Committee and has advocated for stringent oversight of crypto companies.
“The crypto army is striking,” Tyler Winklevoss, a cryptocurrency executive, declared on social media. Furthermore, a spokesperson for a leading crypto super PAC celebrated the Ohio results in an email, using the subject line: “Crypto’s big bet pays off.”
The crypto industry viewed this year’s election as a critical moment, allocating tens of millions of dollars to support candidates who favored less restrictive regulations for the sector. A super PAC known as Fairshake, alongside two associated organizations, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs, spent an approximate total of $135 million. This funding came from contributions by crypto companies such as Coinbase and Ripple, as well as the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in over 100 crypto start-ups.
According to experts, this spending spree represents one of the most aggressive corporate financial interventions in contemporary political history. The results suggest that the strategy proved successful.
A tracker maintained by Stand With Crypto, an industry group that evaluates politicians, indicated that 253 pro-crypto candidates were elected to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, compared to 115 anti-crypto candidates. In the Senate, 16 pro-crypto candidates and 12 anti-crypto candidates were elected, as the tracker reported.
