WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The crypto industry's roughly $200 million spending spree this election stumbled Tuesday, as some of its most expensive and high-profile targets, including the Senate race in Ohio, did not go its way.
While the industry won most of the races it targeted, those losses raised questions among lobbyists about whether it had backed the right candidates.
The greatest blow for the industry came in Ohio, where Democrat and crypto skeptic Sherrod Brown decisively won his race to return to the Senate, despite crypto political action committees spending more than $60 million to defeat him.
The race was one of the most expensive in the Senate's history. Strategists viewed it as a major test of crypto's political clout after the Senate in September voted against advancing major crypto legislation known as the Clarity Act due to opposition from Democrats, in a blow for an industry that has grown close to President Donald Trump.
Some progressive Democratic primary candidates also successfully attacked opponents over their crypto ties.
"We see this as souring the political environment for crypto," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with TD Cowen, in a note on Tuesday.
The leading industry super PAC, Fairshake, notched one high-profile victory, as it and its affiliates spent at least $13.5 million to defeat Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn, a former labor union leader. Osborn lost to Republican Senator Pete Ricketts, who voted for the Clarity Act.
“As the biggest spender in the Nebraska Senate race, we’re proud to have helped Sen. Ricketts weather the waves of a hard-fought cycle," said Geoff Vetter, a spokesperson for Fairshake.
Fairshake, whose chief backers include Coinbase , Ripple and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, threw its financial heft behind 32 House candidates — 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats — whom it considered supporters of the industry's priorities.
So far, it has won 29 of the 34 races it spent on, with several races not yet called. Of the six House candidates on whom Fairshake spent $1 million or more, so far it has won three.
"Newly elected and current members will have a choice: protect consumers and American jobs or fight progress," Fairshake's Vetter said.
The crypto industry has spent roughly half a billion dollars over the past two election cycles to build a bipartisan coalition of congressional allies to advance its interests.
In 2024, it helped elect dozens of crypto-friendly lawmakers who later came together to pass a law to help promote adoption of dollar-backed tokens known as stablecoins.
The Clarity Act's defeat was a major setback, and with Democrats taking Congress, the industry now faces oversight and potential investigations, particularly its ties to Trump.
Cryptocurrencies posted overnight losses on the results, but recovered on Wednesday. Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was last up 3.1% above $80,000.
Crypto executives frequently say the long-term trend is still favorable.
"Where crypto is today compared to we were two years ago is night and day," said Stu Alderoty, chief legal officer at Ripple, speaking before the results. However, on the possibility of Democratic probes into Trump's crypto business dealings, he said: "I think the writing is on the wall.”
Additional reporting by Dawn Kopecki; editing by David Gaffen
