Pro-crypto candidates win big as industry’s significant election bet pays off

The U.S. cryptocurrency industry emerged victorious on election night as the country voted into office more than 250 pro-crypto congressional candidates and helped re-elect former President Trump, who will become the nation’s 47th president.

It comes as the $2 trillion digital asset industry invested well over $200 million to influence key House and Senate races in favor of pro-crypto candidates such as Republican Bernie Moreno, the businessman who unseated incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, flipping the blue seat red for the first time in nearly 18 years. As of Wednesday afternoon, Bitcoin advocate and Republican businessman Dave McCormick is leading the tightly contested senate race in Pennsylvania against Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (as this article goes to press, the race has yet to be called).

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Crypto money donated to political action committee Defend American Jobs (DAJ) accounted for about 10% of the estimated $400 million in ad spending in the Ohio Senate race, with the PAC dropping over $40 million on ads supporting Moreno. The DAJ PAC, an affiliate of the largest pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake, also had a hand in turning former Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s vacated West Virginia seat red with a $3 million ad spend supporting Republican Gov. Jim Justice. 

Justice won with 69% of the vote over Democratic challenger Glenn Elliott. The crypto industry also spent $3 million to help Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks beat Democratic political newcomer Valerie McCray to fill the Senate seat of former GOP Sen. Mike Braun, who left to run for governor. Braun defeated his Democratic opponent with 54% of the vote. 

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand from New York and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas, both strong supporters of crypto, also won their races handily.

But the industry’s deep pockets weren’t enough to convince Massachusetts voters to unseat their anti-crypto senator, Elizabeth Warren, who was re-elected Tuesday to a third term, defeating her Republican opponent, John Deaton, a class-action attorney and well-known crypto advocate who received more than $2 million in industry funding. 

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While the battle for control of the House of Representatives is still in play, more than $50 million of crypto money benefitted winning candidates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, New York, Michigan and Virginia, according to data from crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto. 

"Across the ballot and on both sides of the aisle, crypto won this election," said Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad in a post on X. "With millions of crypto owners casting their ballots, and dozens of high-profile races converging around crypto and financial reform, this new Congress and the incoming Trump administration understand that the crypto voter is real, energized, and ready to demand change from their elected officials."

Meanwhile, Trump’s historic sweep of the electoral college and popular vote came on the heels of broad industry support and significant donations from top players such as venture capitalists Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, founders of the crypto exchange Gemini. The four men donated a combined $10 million to the former president, who raised roughly $22 million from the industry as a whole.

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Trump embraced crypto on the campaign trail, including a keynote speech at the annual Bitcoin Conference. He promised to fire industry nemesis SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who brought over 100 lawsuits against various crypto companies, turning the U.S. into the "crypto capital of the planet." His advocacy made him the much-preferred candidate over his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, whom the industry saw as a vital part of the Biden administration’s enforcement crackdown.

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The price of bitcoin hit an all-time high after Trump declared victory, soaring past $75,000 per token, while ether rose 9%. Shares of crypto-related stocks including Coinbase, MicroStrategy and a handful of bitcoin mining stocks posted double-digit gains.

"President Trump’s win is particularly advantageous for crypto," said Chris Giancarlo, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and founder of the Digital Dollar Project. "This is now about the return of innovation in America and a return to the American spirit and imagination."