Crypto: super PAC Fairshake invests $30 million against Sherrod Brown in Ohio

Perhaps Sherrod Brown thought he was done with Fairshake. Missed. The Senate buried the CLARITY Act last week, and the largest pro-crypto super PAC in the United States is already reaping the consequences: $30 million to prevent the former Democratic senator from regaining his seat in Ohio in November. A scenario that smacks of déjà vu.

A remake of the 2024 remake

Fairshake had already paid nearly $40 million in 2024 to help Republican Bernie Moreno oust Brown, then chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the most anti-industry faces on Capitol Hill. It had worked. Brown wants his revenge this year, against outgoing senator Jon Husted. Fairshake is therefore back at it again, according to information from CoinDesk, with the same objective: locking in the banking commission for the following legislature. This is where the regulatory appointments and texts that govern the sector come into play, not in the tweets.

PAC spokesperson Geoff Vetter makes no secret of it: the campaign will directly target Brown's record through advertisements and mailings. And there is no shortage of money. Fairshake and its affiliated structures still have just over $90 million in reserves after this commitment.

Warren in ambush, Husted under pressure

Fairshake's calculation goes beyond Brown alone. Since his departure, Bernie Moreno has enabled the banking commission to advance regulation of stablecoins and narrowly pass the CLARITY Act, since rejected by the Senate as a whole. A return of Brown would call this fragile balance into question. Except that another name, that of Elizabeth Warren, is being circulated to chair the commission if the Democrats take back the chamber. His hostility to crypto has nothing to envy of that of Brown. In other words, eliminating one opponent does not necessarily eliminate the next one.

On the pitch, nothing is decided. The Polymarket market odds give Brown around a 55% chance of winning (odds as of September 22, 8:30 a.m.). Husted's campaign team, in any case, took the financial aid badly. “Jon Husted is for sale, and the billionaires and companies pouring millions into this race know it,” said Patrick Eisenhauer, Brown’s campaign manager, quoted by CoinDesk.