Crypto and AI-Funded Super PACs Are Metastasizing | The Nation
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May 21, 2026
Crypto and AI-Funded Super PACs Are Metastasizing
They’ve amassed more than $322 million in 2026—with much more to come.
David Moore
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From left: Tyler Winklevoss, cofounder and chief executive officer of Gemini Trust Co.; Cameron Winklevoss, cofounder and president of Gemini Trust Co.; Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc.; and Paolo Ardoino, chief executive officer of Tether Holdings Ltd., speak with Howard Lutnick, US commerce secretary, during a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2025.(Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Super PACs funded by the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries have amassed more than $321 million in the 2026 cycle, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings, as they spend millions to knock out candidates they deem unsupportive of industry-favored regulation.
The proliferation of these industry-funded super PACs, rivaling the size of the giant spending groups controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties, is making its mark on 2026 elections. In the last midterms, the four top spending outside groups were the super PACs tied to House and Senate leaders, crowned by the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) backing Republican candidates. This year, they face competition from crypto and AI industry war chests willing to target both parties.
Lawmakers are weighing foundational regulatory questions on crypto and AI. Both industries are pushing “light-touch” legislative frameworks, and the money ensures that their preferences are unmissable by congressional leaders trying to protect their members. The crypto industry’s pressure campaign is up for a test: On May 14, the Senate Banking Committee advanced the Clarity Act, the industry’s top legislative priority, after months of negotiation, setting it up for a full Senate vote.
The over $321 million raised this cycle spans 14 federal and state super PACs bankrolled by AI and crypto companies, but even that sum doesn’t capture all the pledged money from the AI industry. A new Republican-focused nonprofit aligned with the Trump White House’s deregulatory AI agenda, Innovation Council Action, has pledged to spend $100 million in midterm contests, likely forming another super PAC. Tens of millions more dollars are sluicing into new “dark money” AI advocacy groups like the Anthropic-funded nonprofit Public First Action.
“The campaign finance landscape, and the lack of any real limits, has opened up this opportunity for industries that have a very clear agenda,” said Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program. “And we see AI, crypto, and some of these Big Tech companies really leaning into that.”
Crypto’s Money Cannon Reloads
In the 2024 cycle, the crypto firm–funded Fairshake super PAC network set a record for independent expenditures by an industry-funded group, shelling out more than $133 million to target lawmakers it saw as not on board with its policy agenda and promote its favored candidates. Fairshake funneled funds to party-specific super PACs for ads that made zero mention of crypto. An allied nonprofit advocacy group launched by Coinbase, Stand With Crypto, handed out scorecards to the industry’s cheerleaders and critics.
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Fairshake and its two super PAC affiliates ended the first quarter with $170.4 million in cash on hand—an amount on par with the SLF’s $166.4 million. Its top donors remain Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which together have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the group.
Already this cycle, Fairshake and a couple of newer pro-crypto super PACs have made nearly $51 million in independent expenditures. One joiner is the Digital Freedom Fund, launched last year by the crypto billionaire Winklevoss twins, who have given the group around $21 million in Bitcoin (not yet liquidated—its cash on hand is under a million). Another new pro-crypto spender is the Republican-focused Fellowship PAC, funded largely with $10 million from Cantor Fitzgerald, the Wall Street firm now run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s sons that holds multibillion-dollar positions in crypto. The new PAC, which praised President Trump’s crypto...