Well, election night is over and everything sucks. Not only is Donald Trump going to be President again, but a whole bunch of political candidates funded by the odious crypto industry have been elected to office.
The crypto industry spent an insane amount of money on political races this year. They dwarfed the Kochs. They outspent the tobacco industry. In fact, they spent more money on candidates than any other single industry, with the sole exception of fossil fuel companies. Now, it would appear that all that money has bought the crypto community exactly what it wants: a bunch of civil servants who are beholden to their interests.
The New York Times reports that crypto-funded political candidates had a swell of victories on Tuesday night. The newspaper cites a pro-crypto site, Stand with Crypto, which found that “253 pro-crypto candidates had been elected to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, compared with 115 anti-crypto candidates. In the Senate, 16 pro-crypto candidates and 12 anti-crypto candidates were elected.”
One of the most watched political races that broke crypto’s way was the U.S. Senate race for Ohio’s 13th district. There, longtime incumbent progressive Sherrod Brown was defeated by a crypto-funded challenger, Republican candidate Bernie Moreno. Brown, who has long been referred to as one of America’s last progressive populists, threatened the crypto industry with harsh oversight. His position as the chair of the Senate Banking Committee spooked prominent digital asset holders. Crypto bros said he had to go and, now, away he will go.
One of the most prominent organizations behind the crypto lobbying push, the super PAC Fairshake, has culled funding from many prominent crypto companies, including Ripple, Coinbase, and the crypto-addled VC, Andreessen Horowitz. In August, the advocacy group Public Citizen wrote, of the group:
“Fairshake’s corporate backing is unprecedented. Though unlimited corporate contributions have been enabled since 2010 by Citizens United, this newcomer is already second only to the super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate in terms of corporate money received.”
The total amount spent by Fairshake and its affiliated organizations? A whopping $135 million.
In August, a prominent billionaire, Ron Conway, is said to have pulled his support from Fairshake over its bid to oust Brown, calling the group’s proponents too “stupid” and “selfish” to work with. Still, whether it’s peopled with greedy idiots or not, the organization prevailed in its agenda, unseating Brown and a host of other Democrats that had been critical of its industry. Money can buy pretty much anything, including your favorite Senator.
Crypto’s biggest stans are now riding high. The pathetic, crypto-loving Winklevoss twins—who run the crypto exchange Gemini—are happy as clams. On Wednesday morning, Tyler Winklevoss tweeted: “Crypto just became a bipartisan issue overnight. Well done crypto army.” Cameron Winklevoss, meanwhile, tweeted: “gm @GaryGensler —you’re fired!” He was referencing the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a much-maligned figure in the web3 world, due to his mild proposals of regulatory scrutiny for the industry.
For the past few years, the perception has been that the crypto industry was experiencing a make-or-break moment. After a brief period of cultural ascendance, high-profile scandals like the FTX implosion rocked the rising industry and spurred increased regulatory scrutiny (largely brought by Democrats). The existential stakes of this election cycle clearly spurred crypto companies to spend so exorbitantly on political races. Nauseatingly, it has paid off.
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