Fairshake Affiliate Spends $46.6 Million on Ohio Senate Ads, 55% Above Initial Plan

An affiliate of Fairshake, the cryptocurrency political action committee backed by Coinbase and Ripple Labs, spent $46.6 million on advertising in Ohio's U.S. Senate race. The total was about 55% above the $30 million it had originally planned.

Crypto media outlet Cointelegraph reported on October 16 that Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake-affiliated PAC, disclosed the spending to the Federal Election Commission. The ads were aimed at supporting incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted and opposing former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.

The latest spending also surpassed the $41 million Fairshake deployed in Ohio's 2024 election. Brown, a former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has been critical of the crypto industry.

On the podcast "Pod Save America," Brown said he had spent his life fighting Wall Street, big pharmaceutical companies and major oil firms, and had often won. The crypto industry knows Husted is on its side and knows Brown would keep him in check, he said, which is why it is pouring tens of millions of dollars into the race.

Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss also joined the effort through a separate group. Their super PAC, Digital Freedom Fund, added about $3 million this week to ads opposing Brown and backing Husted. The group's cumulative ad spending in the Ohio race exceeded $5.9 million.

The industry's campaign spending is also flowing into other races. Defend American Jobs spent more than $6.7 million more on ads opposing independent candidate Dan Osborn in Nebraska's Senate race. The Fellowship Committee, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, also spent more than $11 million on ads supporting Senate and House candidates from August 2025 through August 2026.

Fairshake has said it plans to support pro-crypto candidates in this year's midterm elections. In a filing submitted in January, it reported $193 million in cash on hand.