The crypto industry has never spent this much money to derail the political prospects of a single person: former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. The industry’s $63 million question revolves around whether its political adversary in Ohio rides a polling edge back into the Senate — a comeback that could make for a rough go for crypto legislation next year, according to CoinDesk analysis.
Sherrod Brown (Credits: CoinDesk)
Sherrod Brown vs crypto: a $63 million Ohio fight
The industry’s leading Fairshake super PAC is devoting almost $56 million to keeping Brown down, CoinDesk reports. The last time it spent anything like that was two years ago, when it devoted about $40 million to help Bernie Moreno knock off Brown, the longtime Senate incumbent who was chairman of the Banking Committee.
With the $7.2 million that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss kicked in from their own PAC, the industry’s stake in Tuesday’s Ohio vote reaches about $63 million — more than $100 million the sector has spent over two years against one politician. Why the desperation? Brown spent years atop the committee that had to consent to crypto legislation and refused to pick it up, leaving House crypto efforts languishing. In the two years since, the Senate passed a significant stablecoin bill and got within sight of a market structure bill.
What the polls say about Brown’s Ohio edge
The Ohio vote sits among this year’s Senate tossups. Polling gives Brown a slight lead over incumbent Jon Husted, within the margin of error for most polls — while prediction market Kalshi gives Brown a 68% chance of a Senate comeback, and Democrats a 68% chance of retaking the Senate, per CoinDesk.
A Brown victory plus a Democratic Senate could hand crypto skeptics like Brown and Senator Elizabeth Warren control of key committees — Warren is in line to lead the Banking Committee under that scenario. Brown has also turned the spending into a campaign argument, portraying himself as willing to confront tech billionaires and crypto-backed interests. Still, some in the industry call the anti-Brown campaign a strategic error: Dennis Porter of the Satoshi Action Fund argues attacking Democrats while they could soon regain power risks undermining the bipartisan support needed for durable legislation.
Also Read: Crypto Is Making a Splash in U.S. Elections — But Only as a Weapon Against the Industry | US Clarity Act Failure Hands Asia and the Middle East a Crypto Edge
Source: CoinDesk — read the full story there.
