Crypto is making a splash in U.S. elections — but chiefly in jabs about industry influence

Crypto is finally being talked about in U.S. political campaigns, but it's certainly not in a light that the industry would choose.

Though digital assets advocates have long referenced a grassroots uprising of crypto-focused voters that can swing elections, the industry's own massive campaign spending has carefully decided against even mentioning the financial technology in the ads it buys for favored candidates. But crypto is having a moment in the midterms, anyway, as the sector's critics paint its political involvement as a venal influence on congressional campaigning.

A number of Democratic candidates have raised crypto as a black mark to suggest improper corporate sway over their political adversaries and more generally as a factor in corruption accusations against President Donald Trump and his administration. In this environment, in which voters are now weighing government corruption as a top political concern, it may carry consequential weight.

In a current campaign ad from Senator Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat seeks to tarnish Trump and his allies by highlighting the billions Trump has made in office and the jet he accepted as a gift from Qatar. The ad also notes that Trump made hundreds of millions of dollars off of his "crypto memecoin," followed by Warner saying: "That's not governing. It's grifting. The corruption needs to stop."

And in former Senator Sherrod Brown's bid to return to the Senate for Ohio, the Democrat has embraced the massive crypto spending against him as a point of favor.

"The crypto/data-center crowd are up to $40 million now," Brown, the former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a recent Pod Save America interview, noting the industry's opposition ads in Ohio were largely bankrolled by a crypto political action committee (Fairshake). "They know I'm going to hold them accountable," Brown said.

Fairshake spent tens of millions trying to get him voted out of office two years ago, and the super PAC started major spending again to keep Brown out. As a result, he offers an us-versus-them (regular voters against tech billionaires) narrative on the campaign trail. The ex-senator frequently lumps crypto and data centers together in his speeches, accusing those tech elements of trying to buy the incumbent Republican opponent Jon Husted's seat "because they know I'll never work for them," Brown said in a campaign video spot.

Oliver Gilbert, a Democrat running for Congress in Florida, has also made his crypto-world political enemies an element in his campaigning — especially after the Fairshake super PAC spent $2 million in a failed attempt to defeat him in the primaries.

"Trump and his crypto con artist billionaires just put a target on my back," he said in one ad after the industry's campaign operation came after him. Gilbert accused crypto interests of lavishing dark money to spread lies about his record, and he said he'd fight to "protect seniors from crypto scams."

Minnesota Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan and Illinois Senate candidate Juliana Stratton (another of Fairshake's most high-profile losses) both flagged their crypto friction during their primary races. Stratton posted a video describing the millions a "MAGA-backed crypto PAC" spent in attack ads against her.

Just as President Trump has urged his supporters to think of him when they vote, the congressional midterms are widely viewed as focused on his presidency. And part of that record has been his aggressive crypto push and his substantial personal benefits.

Voters are worrying about self-dealing political behavior more they have before. A Fox News poll of voters this month showed that "government corruption" was the top issue of concern, showing 88% of respondents were at least very concerned about it — higher even than inflation, gas prices and healthcare.