Crypto political action committees are escalating their influence campaign ahead of a flurry of U.S. primaries — and Maryland’s June 23 contests are shaping up as the next big test.
FEC filings show a cluster of crypto-backed groups tied to the Fairshake network — supported by industry names including Coinbase and Ripple — funneling millions into House and Senate primaries across several states. Protect Progress, a Fairshake affiliate, poured roughly $3 million into Democratic House races in California and New Jersey, and spent more than $3.1 million on media backing Adrian Boafo in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. The same disclosure package shows about $320,000 steered to support Democratic Representative Ritchie Torres ahead of his June 23 primary in New York.
Fairshake’s footprint is bipartisan. Another affiliated group, Defend American Jobs, chipped in over $411,000 for Republican Senator Mike Rounds’ reelection bid in South Dakota. Those moves underline how crypto-aligned PACs are targeting races across the political spectrum to shape the next Congress.
The recent spending follows favorable results for crypto-backed candidates in last week’s Texas primaries, where Fairshake and allied PACs backed winners — a sign the industry is testing whether deep campaign coffers can shift outcomes in contests where digital asset policy is a heated topic. Protect Progress alone previously spent $5 million supporting Christian Menefee against Representative Al Green in Texas’s 18th District; Green, who opposed the GENIUS Act (a stablecoin bill) and the CLARITY Act (digital asset market structure legislation), ultimately lost his primary.
On the fundraising side, Fairshake reported more than $193 million available as of January, according to the filings. Other players have also entered the cycle: Fellowship received $11 million from Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, while the Blockchain Leadership Fund disclosed $175,000 in seed funding from Chainlink and Anchorage.
All of this activity comes as Congress considers major digital-asset legislation. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — which cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee in January and the Senate Banking Committee in May — has been placed on the Senate calendar for potential consideration, raising the stakes for which lawmakers will hold influence over crypto policymaking next term.
With primaries underway in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and the forthcoming Maryland vote, crypto PACs are testing whether campaign spending can translate into policy influence — and how broadly the industry will continue to target both Democratic and Republican races.
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