Silicon Valley just changed Washington forever. The 2024 election didn’t just bring Donald Trump back into the White House—it flipped Congress into a playground for crypto advocates.
Bernie Moreno, a political nobody last year, knocked out Sherrod Brown, a Senate heavyweight who’s been in office longer than Bitcoin has existed. That was no accident. The crypto industry threw its weight (and its dollars) behind candidates like Moreno, turning the election into a blockchain-powered blitz.
Moreno wasn’t even on the radar two years ago. He was a car salesman from Cleveland who lost his first Senate race in 2022. But by 2024, he had $40 million in crypto money behind him, thanks to an industry hellbent on changing the world.
Sherrod Brown, who chaired the Banking Committee and made life miserable for the crypto world, didn’t stand a chance.
Crypto’s $245 million power play
Crypto dollars flooded the election like never before, with PACs and advocacy groups tied to the industry spending over $245 million nationwide. That’s nearly half of all corporate cash spent on the election, according to watchdog group Public Citizen.
Coinbase’s Stand With Crypto Alliance spearheaded the effort, grading candidates on their blockchain loyalty and funneling cash into races where it mattered most. If you weren’t pro-crypto, you were in the crosshairs.
The strategy was simple but brutal: spend big, win big, and erase the opposition. Crypto didn’t bother with post-election lobbying. They didn’t need to. They made sure their critics didn’t even make it to Capitol Hill.
Fairshake, a super PAC bankrolled by Coinbase, dropped $75 million backing candidates who won nearly every race they funded. Its affiliates, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs, focused on flipping Senate seats in battleground states like Arizona and Michigan.
In West Virginia, Republican Jim Justice snagged Joe Manchin’s old seat with help from over $3 million in crypto cash. In California, Democratic Representative Katie Porter didn’t make it past the Senate primary after Fairshake spent over $10 million on ads against her.
Porter, who had pushed for tighter crypto regulations, didn’t know what hit her. “I was, like, ‘What the heck is Fairshake?’” she said.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wasn’t subtle about the industry’s dominance. “Being anti-crypto is simply bad politics,” he wrote on X after the election. That message hit home.
Nearly 300 pro-crypto lawmakers are heading to Congress, giving the industry the kind of influence it’s never had before. Brian added that: “Welcome to America’s most pro-crypto Congress ever.”
Moreno’s blockchain boot camp
Moreno didn’t just luck into his Senate seat. The guy spent over a year getting grilled by cryptocurrency’s biggest names—Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and David Sacks among them. These aren’t people who throw money around lightly. They needed to know Moreno wasn’t just another smooth-talking politician.
“They didn’t just jump in head first,” Moreno said about his meetings with Silicon Valley heavyweights. “We had to build a lot of trust.”
Coinbase’s Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam also vetted Moreno, meeting him over breakfast to discuss his blockchain knowledge. Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s policy chief, said Moreno wasn’t an expert on policy details but understood the tech and its potential. That was enough for the industry to back him.
Moreno’s experience as a blockchain entrepreneur didn’t hurt. He founded Champ Titles, a company that digitizes vehicle registrations using blockchain technology. That gave him enough credibility to win over cryptocurrency’s deep-pocketed donors, who weren’t interested in wasting time or money on another disappointment.
The investment paid off. Brown, who aligned himself with anti-crypto crusaders like Elizabeth Warren, had made a career out of attacking the industry. After the FTX collapse in 2022, Brown called the event “a loud warning bell” and demanded stricter regulations.
But his message didn’t land. Voters were more interested in innovation than crackdowns. David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth and an early Moreno backer, said the victory was a wake-up call for Washington.
“The voters are going to support candidates who are pro-blockchain,” he said. The Club for Growth spent $6.5 million supporting Moreno in the primary through its Bitcoin Freedom Fund PAC.
Cryptocurrency’s big players step up
The 2024 election saw the crypto industry flex its financial muscle like never before. Coinbase led the charge, contributing millions through Fairshake and other PACs. Ripple founder Chris Larsen dropped $12 million, while the Winklevoss twins chipped in $10.1 million.
Kraken Chairman Jesse Powell donated over $1 million to Trump’s campaign, cementing his role as one of crypto’s most outspoken advocates.
The donor list reads like a who’s who of blockchain royalty. Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani gave $878,600. Paradigm co-founder Fred Ehrsam added $735,400. Even Xapo founder Wences Casares threw in $374,899.
Coinbase executives also went all-in on the Trump campaign. Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal attended fundraisers, including one at the Nashville Bitcoin Conference. The message was clear: the industry wanted a president who would rewrite the rules in their favor.
That’s already happening. Within days of the election, Brian met with Trump to discuss key appointments. Rumors swirled about the creation of a “crypto czar” role in the White House. Meanwhile, SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the industry’s public enemy number one, announced he was stepping down.
Gensler had spent years targeting Coinbase and Ripple, accusing them of selling unregistered securities. His exit will be a major win for the industry.
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