With one day to go until the US general election, cryptocurrency companies have already pumped tens of millions of dollars into the upcoming 2026 cycle. The pro-crypto and bipartisan PAC Fairshake said Monday that the committee and its affiliates have raised $78 million for the 2026 midterm elections.
The $78 million is divided into more than $30 million raised, plus another $48 million in new commitments from the central cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase and Silicon Valley venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, among others.
Early Monday, a16z general partner Chris Dixon, who heads the fund's cryptocurrency book, published a memo explaining why the firm would contribute another $23 million to Fairshake.
“No matter what happens in the 2024 election, we are committed to supporting policymakers, regardless of party affiliations, who will work to create a workable regulatory framework that protects consumers while allowing the industry to grow,” the letter said.
Dixon added that “supporting a political action committee like Fairshake is just an important part of the strategy needed to achieve our larger policy goals” and that a16z will continue to meet with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to advocate for the industry.
Overall, a16z awarded $70 million to Fairshake as the venture capital looks to support the PAC's larger mission of building a Congress composed of pro-crypto lawmakers.
Coinbase announced on Wednesday that it will give another $25 million to Fairshake.
Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, has been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that it engaged in unregistered sales of securities. He is among Fairshake's top contributors this cycle. The exchange has given more than $75 million to Fairshake and its political action committees.
“We know we need to pass pro-crypto legislation in this country,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during the company's third-quarter earnings call. Coinbase shares fell 15% after the company reported a loss in top and bottom line earnings.
Ripple Labs is another major political donor this cycle, having given about $50 million to Fairshake. The company has committed $25 million this year and last, and intends to remain a strong force in D.C. for years to come, a company spokesperson said.
Fairshake told CNBC that it raised about $170 million this cycle and disbursed nearly $135 million.
The majority of the group's funds can be traced back to Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ripple Labs. The remaining balance comes from a mix of corporations and individual donors. For example, Armstrong donated $1 million, while the Winklevoss twins donated $5 million.
Fairshake was launched last year by a group of cryptocurrency companies and is one of the biggest spending political action committees in 2024, even against oil companies and banks, which have historically been major political contributors. Nearly half of the corporate money flowing into elections came from the cryptocurrency industry, according to a report by the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen.
Fairshake's spending, which targeted House and Senate races in the 2024 cycle, is effective. The Public Citizen report found that of the 42 primary races that attracted money from major cryptocurrency-backed political action committees, a candidate backed by the cryptocurrency industry won 36 of them.
Fairshake's corporate and individual donors want cryptocurrency laws passed in the United States
Dixon and others say they are looking for comprehensive market structure legislation for digital assets and a law to govern stablecoins, tokens tied to the value of real assets that are now almost synonymous with coins pegged to the US dollar.
“Many industries are coming to D.C. to demand the rules be repealed, and we have come to D.C. to ask for them to be put in place,” Dixon wrote in his letter Monday.
