Crypto Spent $176 Million on the Midterms. Its Biggest Bet Lost.
Fairshake's US$56 million campaign against Sherrod Brown failed, Democrats now run the committees that write crypto rules, and Canada already has its own stablecoin law.
C-Tribe Editorial
The crypto industry spent more on the 2026 midterms than on any election before it, and its biggest bet lost. Crypto super PACs put about US$176 million into roughly 100 races, up from US$130 million in 2024, with the Fairshake network alone accounting for US$154.5 million across 89 races, Cointelegraph reported. Democrats now control both chambers of Congress, and the people expected to run the committees that write crypto rules are some of the industry's sharpest critics.
Fairshake is not conceding anything. "Newly elected and current members will have a choice: protect consumers or fight progress. We will be watching and '28 is a new map," spokesperson Geoff Vetter said.
Did Crypto's Election Money Pay Off?
Partly, and the misses were expensive. Fairshake spent US$56 million against Sherrod Brown in Ohio, the senator crypto helped push out in 2024. Brown won his comeback by nearly five points, according to CoinDesk. It also spent US$10 million against Juliana Stratton in an Illinois primary, and she won anyway.
Its wins were mostly in safe or Republican territory. CoinDesk lists US$11 million behind Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, US$12 million behind Barry Moore in Alabama and US$7 million for Andy Barr in Kentucky. Mark Hays of Americans for Financial Reform called the night "a resounding defeat of the crypto industry's overall political strategy," and compared it to the scene in The Dark Knight where "the Joker sets fire to a massive pile of money."
Fairshake says it "played a meaningful role in winning competitive races across the country in 2026, and we will do it again in 2028." CoinDesk puts its remaining cash at US$56 million, and Cointelegraph says US$67 million. Either way, it still has more cash than most of its rivals.
Is the CLARITY Act Dead?
Not dead, but much harder to pass. The CLARITY Act, the bill meant to set rules for how crypto trades in the US, passed the House 294 to 134 in July 2025, CNBC reported. It then stalled in the Senate in September, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance.
Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said the bill failed because "it did nothing to rein in Trump's overt, pernicious, and dangerous corruption," in a September statement. With Democrats in charge, Waters is the leading contender to chair that committee, Cointelegraph reported, citing Reuters.
House Democrats are now discussing turning her Crypto Investor Consumer Bill of Rights into a full market structure bill that would "give the SEC more power to supervise the crypto markets," Decrypt reported. That would flip the industry's preferred setup, which leaned on the friendlier CFTC. "I wouldn't say it's game over for Clarity, but passing it has become tougher," said GSR analyst Carlos Guzman.
What Happens to Trump Family Crypto Now?
Oversight, and a lot of it. Representative Robert Garcia, expected to lead the House Oversight Committee, told the administration to "lawyer up" and said Trump has "a crypto scheme where he's making billions of dollars," Cointelegraph reported. Senator Ed Markey added that "they are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we'll be printing."
Traders priced that in fast. The day after the election, the official TRUMP memecoin fell 17% to US$1.33, World Liberty Financial's WLFI token dropped more than 7%, and the political memecoin sector lost more than 16% of its value, falling to US$477 million, Cointelegraph reported. Bitcoin went the other way, rising more than 4% to about US$80,500.
That rally did not last. On November 5 bitcoin fell to US$75,463, its lowest level since mid-September, with about US$850 million in liquidations over 24 hours, as a tech stock selloff hit the Nasdaq, according to Cointelegraph.
Politics moves memecoins. Interest rates and the stock market still move bitcoin.
What Survives a Democratic Congress?
Stablecoins, probably. The GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law signed in 2025, is already on the books, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has proposed reporting forms for issuers. Its rules take effect in January.
That gives issuers "a statute to work from," NEAR Foundation's Abhishek Vaidyanathan told CoinDesk. Rewriting a signed law takes a veto-proof majority Democrats do not have.
Where Does Canada Fit In?
Canada now has its own stablecoin law, and it got there without a super PAC. The Stablecoin Act was passed as part of Ottawa's budget implementation bill, C-15, which received royal assent on March 26, 2026, according to LEGISinfo. The Bank of Canada will register and supervise issuers to make sure stablecoins are "fully backed by high-quality liquid assets, redeemable at par value," per the central bank.
Young people are the likely users. Federal budget documents cite research from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada showing that men and young Canadians are more likely to own stablecoins, in the Budget 2025 impact analysis. Canadian investors also trade on platforms registered with securities regulators, such as Wealthsimple, Shakepay, Kraken and Coinbase Canada, listed by the Ontario Securities Commission.
The contrast is worth sitting with. The US spent a record sum trying to buy friendly crypto rules and ended up with a Congress planning subpoenas. Canada wrote stablecoin rules into a budget bill and handed them to the central bank. For Canadian builders, the boring path may turn out to be the more stable one.
