The crypto industry's biggest super PAC is spending in 32 House races this fall. Nineteen of the candidates it's backing are Republicans — and every one of those 19 voted last year for the bill the industry wanted most.
The money
The Hill reported on October 5 that Fairshake is backing 13 Democrats and 19 Republicans for the House. Fairshake and its network are funded primarily by Coinbase, the venture capital firm a16z, and Ripple — crypto companies with billions riding on how Washington regulates them.
Six candidates are getting $1 million each. Three of them are Republicans, and they are not random picks:
- French Hill of Arkansas chairs the House Financial Services Committee — the committee that writes the rules for banks, markets and crypto. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on his $1 million pledge.
- Bryan Steil of Wisconsin chairs that committee's digital assets subcommittee — the panel specifically in charge of crypto.
- Bill Huizenga of Michigan, The Hill says, is among the "prominent voices in the digital asset space."
The other 16 Republicans Fairshake is backing, per The Hill: Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minnesota); Agriculture Committee chair Glenn Thompson (Pennsylvania); Ways and Means chair Jason Smith (Missouri); and Ben Cline (Virginia), Troy Downing (Montana), Michelle Fischbach (Minnesota), Scott Fitzgerald (Wisconsin), Mike Haridopolos (Florida), Pat Harrigan (North Carolina), Brian Jack (Georgia), Frank Lucas (Oklahoma), Lisa McClain (Michigan), August Pfluger (Texas), Guy Reschenthaler (Pennsylvania), David Rouzer (North Carolina) and Austin Scott (Georgia).
A Fairshake spokesman told The Hill: "We back pro-crypto candidates who support American innovation in both parties." He also bragged that the group had won 53 of the 57 races it got into this cycle.
The bill they voted for
In July 2025, the House passed the CLARITY Act — the industry's top priority, which sets up the rules for how crypto is sold and traded. It passed 294 to 134.
All 19 Republicans Fairshake is now backing voted yes.
Several of them did more than vote. Congress's own record shows French Hill wrote it — he's the sponsor — and Glenn Thompson, Tom Emmer, Bryan Steil and Bill Huizenga signed on as cosponsors. That's all three of the $1 million recipients, plus the chair of the Agriculture Committee — which, with Financial Services, approved the bill before it reached the floor — and the House Majority Whip.
The same day, the House passed the GENIUS Act, the industry's bill on stablecoins — crypto tokens pegged to the dollar — 308 to 122. Eighteen of the 19 voted yes. Austin Scott was the one Republican on Fairshake's list who voted no.
Who the bill was for
More than 80 consumer, civil rights, faith and community groups urged Congress to vote the CLARITY Act down. The release announcing their letter said the bill would "legitimize harmful crypto industry practices, exempt large sectors of the industry from all but minimal oversight, create loopholes that would harm mainstream investors, and fail to address growing crypto corruption in the White House."
Mark Hays of Americans for Financial Reform called it "a massive crypto giveaway that rewards billionaires and exposes the rest of us and the financial system to fraud, money laundering, and predation." AFR said the vote was being "egged on by threats from the crypto industry's SuperPACs."
That's the bargain on display. The industry asked for a bill that loosens the rules on itself. These 19 Republicans voted for it. Now the industry's super PAC is spending to keep them in office — with the biggest checks going to the bill's sponsor and two of its cosponsors.
The Senate hasn't finished the job: in September, a vote to start debate on the bill failed.
A pattern on this site
Fairshake has done this before. Its network spent $12 million on Barry Moore's Senate primary in Alabama, and we've traced crypto money behind Mark Messmer and the crypto executives who wrote checks to Bill Hagerty, the senator behind the GENIUS Act.
What the votes show
Fairshake, a super PAC funded mainly by Coinbase, a16z and Ripple, is backing 19 House Republicans this fall, with $1 million each for French Hill, Bryan Steil and Bill Huizenga. All 19 voted for the industry's CLARITY Act, which more than 80 consumer and civil rights groups opposed; Hill sponsored it, and Steil, Huizenga, Thompson and Emmer cosponsored it. Eighteen of the 19 also voted for the GENIUS Act.
Source
Crypto super PAC targets 32 House races before midterms — The Hill
