Joe Schiarizzi — a 30-year-old Ethereum developer and longtime builder in the crypto space — is jumping into the 2026 midterm mix, pitching himself as a Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 7th congressional district and potentially becoming the first crypto developer to serve in Congress.
Schiarizzi officially launched his campaign Thursday to run in the D.C. suburbs. His bid comes as the 7th district faces potential redrawing pending a statewide ballot measure that could leave it without an incumbent, creating an opening for new contenders. If elected, Schiarizzi would bring rare hands-on technical experience to a legislature that has spent the last year wrestling with how to regulate and legitimize digital assets.
A veteran of the Ethereum ecosystem, Schiarizzi has worked at firms and projects including Consensys, Gitcoin and OpenSea. He frames his candidacy around a critique both of the current administration and of how crypto has been portrayed and leveraged politically. “This is the most corrupt administration in American history, and we need to get serious about accountability,” he told Decrypt, arguing that recent headlines tying crypto to the Trump family’s commercial ventures have steered the industry away from its original post‑2008 mission: a decentralized tool to curb corporate power and broaden economic rights for working people.
That origin story, he says, should inform policy. Schiarizzi advocates practical, user-focused uses of blockchain tech: tokenized renewable energy certificates to fund solar farms, and private on‑chain payments for medical services so patients can access care without gatekeepers or intrusive intermediaries. “Those are things I think most Americans can get behind, and that doesn’t have to do with meme coin scams like the president launched,” he said.
Schiarizzi is vocal about the money and messaging shaping today’s crypto politics. He criticizes newly minted pro‑crypto lawmakers across both parties as opportunistic, suggesting many are courting backing from mega crypto super PACs rather than representing builders or the public. “That money can all go to Republicans who are taking our rights away and don't believe in privacy, or it can go to actual builders who want to use new technology to improve real Americans’ lives,” he said.
On policy, Schiarizzi proposes measures aimed at smaller projects and everyday users: simpler tax rules for crypto, legal exemptions for common crypto tools, and expanding the types of assets allowed to back dollar‑pegged stablecoins to include municipal bonds that could be used to fund hospitals and schools. Those ideas are pitched as ways to marry financial innovation with tangible public benefits.
Locally, Schiarizzi is also active in the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement in northern Virginia, calling for aggressive housing supply expansion to combat rising home-ownership costs that he says are “tearing apart the fabric of our society.”
The road to Congress will be crowded. Several Democrats — including a state senator, a state delegate and the spouse of a former governor — have already signaled plans to run in the newly drawn 7th district if it materializes. Schiarizzi stands out among them not only for his tech background and anti‑Trump stance, but for his campaign’s willingness to accept donations in crypto. His campaign currently accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, and even novelty tokens such as Fartcoin and a Trump meme coin.
If successful, Schiarizzi would be an unusual voice in Washington: a builder from the crypto trenches pushing both progressive tech policy and local housing reform — and doing it with crypto in his campaign toolkit.
Disclosure: Consensys is an investor in Decrypt.
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