“It's a huge development,” David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, said of the crypto-friendly candidates.
While it is hard to believe that digital asset policy will influence any election, the looming spending spree underscores the desire of top cryptocurrency executives and investors to become a major force in American politics.
These groups support candidates on both sides of the aisle, but Republicans have been more eager to anchor their campaigns with initiatives toward crypto believers — most clearly in Ohio and Massachusetts. This could make Brown and Warren ripe targets given their calls to eliminate consumer and financial system risks posed by digital asset trading.
“Precisely the reason they're anti-crypto is because they hate individual responsibility and freedom,” Bernie Moreno, the GOP Senate candidate in Ohio, said of Brown and Warren in an interview. “We will definitely take them to task on this issue.”
Moreno, a former car dealer, is the favorite to take on Brown thanks to the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Moreno has made a name for himself in the Cleveland area in part as an evangelist for cryptocurrency technology. He plans to make cryptocurrencies an issue in the general election.
It's the clearest example yet of how cryptocurrencies can make a marginal difference in control of Washington, where Brown is expected to face one of the toughest campaigns of his career. Trump won the state in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
Club for Growth, which has influence in the Republican Party thanks to its well-funded political action committees, cited Moreno's work with blockchain — the digital ledger technology behind cryptocurrencies — when it endorsed him last month. McIntosh said the club is “excited” by Moreno's background, adding that he “knows the problems, knows the technology intimately”.
In Massachusetts, cryptocurrency lawyer John Deaton launched a bid this week to take on Warren, the digital asset industry's number one enemy on Capitol Hill. Deaton, who is not expected to pose a real threat to Warren, has already begun making light of his past stay and arrest. But it is making a lot of noise in the online cryptocurrency community.
Fairshake and her cryptocurrency political action committees have not yet announced whether they will support Moreno or Deaton. California emerged as its first big target, with Fairshake spending $6.8 million to unseat the progressive lawmaker. Katie porter From the Senate race against the Democratic representatives. Adam Schiff And Barbara Lee And Republican Steve Garvey.
Porter, a Warren protege, is voting behind Schiff in the open primary. The strategy pursued by her opponents is to ensure that she fails to advance to the general elections scheduled for November. Porter attempted to raise funds from crypto-backed attacks.
Crypto political action committees have also recently spent money supporting House candidates in North Carolina and Alabama.
“Fairshake is focused on supporting candidates who want to get things done and pass responsible regulations to allow the cryptocurrency economy to grow, create jobs, and generate wealth for all Americans,” said Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto. “We will participate in races based on the candidate and where we can have an impact.”
A separate pro-crypto dark money group, the Cedar Innovation Foundation, is already spending money attacking Brown in Ohio over digital asset policy.
Brown is currently trying to rule out a potential threat from a Republican he wants to challenge on cryptocurrencies.
“If they want to raise this issue, I don't really understand it, but they have shareholders in cryptocurrencies and I think that's the motivation behind what they're doing,” Brown told reporters recently. “Because cryptocurrencies are definitely not good for our country.”
