Crypto Donors Flooded 2026 Midterms With a Record $471 Million

CN
56 minutes ago

Key Takeaways

  • Crypto’s $471 million political offensive nearly doubled its 2024 election contributions, with Republicans capturing the lion’s share.
  • Industry heavyweights poured millions into pivotal congressional races, seeking greater influence over Washington’s digital asset policies.
  • Electoral victories concealed expensive setbacks, as crypto-backed PACs spent $88.2 million on losing political campaigns.
The following analysis is a guest post by James Delmore, a blockchain and crypto market analyst for Breadcrumbs. The report’s figures are based on federal donations only.

Drawing on Federal Election Commission (FEC) records and comprehensive campaign finance data, Delmore’s research identifies the industry’s largest corporate and individual donors, examines the political action committees (PACs) responsible for deploying millions of dollars, and evaluates their influence across pivotal congressional contests. Republicans captured the overwhelming majority of financial support, while crypto-aligned PACs committed substantial resources to shaping the composition of Congress.

Yet the results expose a fascinating contradiction: Despite an impressive record of electoral victories, some of the industry’s most expensive political gambles ended in defeat. The following report examines the financial machinery behind cryptocurrency’s growing political influence in Washington, the winners and losers of the 2026 election cycle, and the industry’s broader ambitions to secure favorable digital asset legislation.

Companies and individuals with ties to the cryptocurrency industry contributed a record amount of at least $471 million during the 2026 US election cycle, nearly double the $250 million spent in 2024, according to an analysis of FEC records.

Republicans received the overwhelming majority of contributions and spending support from the crypto industry. Of the $471 million, $302 million (65%) went to or was spent on Republican-aligned candidates, while $96 million (21%) to Democratic-aligned candidates

Non-crypto PACs and committees received more than $250 million in contributions from the crypto industry.

CONTRIBUTIONS to NON-CRYPTO PACS
PAC NameAmount Description of PAC
MAGA, Inc.$94 millionSupports Trump-endorsed Republicans.
Leading the Future$50 millionSuper PAC supporting AI
Lone Star Rising$18 millionSupports James Talarico (D) for Senate in Texas
HMP$17 millionSupports Democrats in House races
Congressional Leadership Fund$15 millionAligned with Congressional GOP leadership
Senate Leadership Fund$8 millionAligned with Senate Republican leadership
V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims$6 millionSupports Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio governor
Invest in Tomorrow Coalition$6 millionSupports Democrat candidates for clean energy

The rest of the crypto industry’s contributions mostly went to the crypto PAC Fairshake, which then transferred most of its funds to its affiliate PACs, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs.

These crypto-focused PACs recorded approximately $163 million in spending. 82% of the spending supported Republicans or opposed Democrats, versus 18% supporting Democrats or opposing Republicans.

Name of Crypto PACPolitical AffiliationAmount Spent
FairshakeBipartisan$18.4 million
Protect ProgressDemocrat$29 million
Defend American JobsRepublican$102 million
Digital Freedom FundRepublican$8.3 million
Fellowship(Mostly) Republican$4.8 million
Jump PACBipartisanNone Reported
First Principles DigitalRepublican$900,000
Senate RaceCrypto PAC SpendingSupportResult
Ohio Senate$64MBacked Jon Husted/opposed Sherrod BrownLost
Nebraska Senate$14MBacked Pete Ricketts/opposed Dan OsbornWon
Alabama Senate$13MBacked Barry MooreWon
Illinois (primary)$10MOpposed Juliana StrattonLost
Kentucky Senate$8MBacked Andy BarrWon

Overall, Candidates supported by crypto PAC spending were very successful. Of the 90 candidates that received support from crypto super PACs, 73 of them won their races and were elected to Congress, while only 14 lost their races (with three races still to be determined). A winning percentage above 80%.

But the financial commitments were devastating. More than half of the $163 million that was spent went to losing candidates ($88 million). In the Ohio senate race alone, $64 million (or 39% of crypto PAC spending) went to a losing effort trying to defeat anti-crypto candidate Sherrod Brown.

Crypto PACs fared better in Nebraska, Alabama, and Kentucky, where $34 million was spent on the winning candidates.

Companies and investment entitiesContributedIndividualsContributed
Andreessen Horowitz / a16z$117MReid Hoffman$28M
Coinbase$61MCameron Winklevoss$18M
Ripple$50MTyler Winklevoss$18M
Crypto.com$39MChris Larsen$17M
Winklevoss Capital Fund$21MRoss Stevens$6M

The top five entities account for $288 million, or about 61% of the full donor tally.

The totals encompass both crypto-native and crypto-affiliated businesses and individuals.

Crypto-native and affiliated businesses and other entities accounted for approximately $346 million, and individuals in the crypto space account for 125.4 million.

Donor groupContributions
Crypto-native entities$276 million
Crypto-native individuals$82 million
Crypto-affiliated entities$70 million
Crypto-affiliated individuals$43million
Total$471 million

Donors by Political Party

Foris Dax (Crypto.com)$38 million
Winklevoss Capital Fund$21 million
Tyler Winklevoss$17 million
Cameron Winklevoss$17 million
Andreessen Horowitz / a16z$10.6 million
Cantor Fitzgerald$10 million
Ross Stevens$6.3 million
Blockchain.com$5 million
Solana Institute$3.6 million
Bijan Tehrani$3 million
Matt Huang$2.6 million
Reid Hoffman$28 million
Chris Larsen$16.7 million
Ron Conway$7.5 million
Michael Novogratz$1.9 million
Brian Armstrong$494,000

Methodology: Figures are from James Delmore’s compilation of political-contribution and PAC-spending records for the 2025–26 cycle, reported here as of November 6, 2026. “Crypto-native” denotes businesses primarily engaged in digital assets and associated individuals; “crypto-affiliated” includes diversified firms, investors and individuals with substantial crypto ties. Donations by an affiliated donor are not necessarily donations made to advance crypto policy.

The $471 million is a contribution tally. PAC expenditures are presented separately and must not be added to it. PAC fundraising figures can include transfers between committees. Race totals are rounded, and election results remain subject to certification.

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