Crypto PACs Build $263M War Chest Ahead of 2026 US Midterm Elections

The crypto industry is ramping up political spending once again, preparing a record-breaking $263 million war chest ahead of the 2026 US midterm elections, nearly double what it deployed in ￰1￱ Takeaways: The crypto industry has built a $263 million campaign war chest ahead of the 2026 midterms, surpassing oil and gas spending in 2024. Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao underscores the sector’s growing political ￰2￱ PACs like Fairshake, Digital Freedom Fund, and Fellowship are funding ￰3￱ to Federal Election Commission filings and public statements, several crypto-focused super PACs, led by Fairshake, are pooling resources to influence congressional races and advance crypto-friendly ￰4￱ figure also surpasses what the entire oil and gas sector spent in 2024, reflecting the industry’s growing political clout in ￰5￱ Pardons Binance Founder as Crypto’s Washington Influence Deepens The sector’s influence has surged since 2024, when Republican majorities passed legislation favorable to digital assets and confirmed regulators aligned with the ￰6￱ relationship deepened last week when President Donald Trump pardoned Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao , who had served a four-month sentence for anti–money laundering violations under the Biden ￰7￱ remains the largest crypto super PAC, reporting $141 million in funds by mid-2025 after spending more than $133 million in the previous ￰8￱ PAC, backed by Coinbase, Ripple, and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, helped elect pro-crypto lawmakers across party lines, though most spending favored ￰9￱ biggest win was unseating Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown in Ohio with $40 million in campaign ￰10￱ PAC ￰0￱ Donors: -RIPPLE LABS INC – $45 Million Brad Garlinghouse -Senior Advisor at Silver Lake Partners (connected to Oracle through David Roux) -Executive at AOL (Steve Kase, Revolution Group) -Executive at Yahoo (Owned by Apollo Global… ￰11￱ — 7SEES (@7SEES_) July 15, 2025 The crypto lobby is now focusing on passing a sweeping market structure bill that could shift oversight power toward the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), seen as more favorable to digital assets than the ￰12￱ build support, industry leaders met with top Republicans and Democrats in Washington last week, including Minority Leader Chuck ￰13￱ super PACs are also entering the ￰14￱ Digital Freedom Fund, backed by the Winklevoss twins and reportedly supported by Trump’s World Liberty Financial platform, has pledged $21 million in Bitcoin donations for pro-crypto ￰15￱ GOP-aligned PAC, First Principles Digital, led by Republican strategist Jason Thielman, has raised nearly $1 million and endorsed candidates like Mike Rogers in Michigan.

Meanwhile, the newly formed Fellowship PAC has $100 million in commitments and rumored ties to stablecoin issuer Tether, which recently set up a US-based entity and hired Trump’s former crypto advisor Bo ￰16￱ Crypto Ban for Lawmakers After Trump Pardons CZ As reported, US Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is drafting new legislation to ban lawmakers from owning or launching cryptocurrencies , citing concerns over corruption and conflicts of ￰17￱ accused Trump of “blatant corruption,” alleging ties between Zhao and the Trump family’s crypto project, World Liberty ￰18￱ on MSNBC, he claimed Zhao’s activities included funding illicit actors, comments that were later found to exaggerate aspects of Zhao’s legal ￰19￱ congressman said his proposal builds on his earlier Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act, expanding it to include digital ￰20￱ the earlier bill stalled in committee, Khanna’s latest push signals renewed bipartisan interest in tightening financial ethics and limiting crypto exposure among US officials.