Cryptocurrency industry-backed political action committees supported multiple winning candidates in Tuesday’s primaries in California, New Jersey, and South Dakota. The affiliate PACs of Fairshake, funded largely by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, spent about $3.5 million on supportive advertising. Separately, industry leaders announced the launch of a new hybrid PAC named Defend Developers, focused on protecting software builders in the crypto space.
Candidates backed by cryptocurrency industry political action committees won key primaries on Tuesday. Victories occurred across California, New Jersey, and South Dakota for Democrats and Republicans alike, as results showed.
The wins followed supportive media buys from the Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs PACs. These groups, affiliated with the Fairshake super PAC, spent a combined $3.5 million.
Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter stated the industry’s goal. “America needs members of Congress who will act to lay out responsible guardrails for the community to maintain our global leadership,” he said.
This spending follows similar activity in Texas runoff primaries last week. Those races also resulted in wins for candidates supportive of digital asset advancement.
Maryland is emerging as the next battleground for this influence. Federal Election Commission filings showed Protect Progress had spent over $3.1 million to support Democratic candidate Adrian Boafo ahead of a June 23 primary.
In a separate development, major crypto advocacy organizations announced a new political action committee. The hybrid PAC, named Defend Developers, will support congressional incumbents who champion developer protections.
The group’s board includes leaders from the DeFi Education Fund, Orca Creative, Solana Policy Institute, and Uniswap Labs. Founder Gavin Zavatone cited regulatory uncertainty faced by developers building decentralized technologies.
The Federal Election Commission portal showed no funding or expenditure data for the new PAC as of Wednesday. Its treasurer is Nick Stoltzfus, co-CEO of the platform Stratofied.
