$52 million against one candidate: crypto super PACs drop another $11 million in Ohio to stop Sherrod Brown, three weeks before the vote

The crypto industry's political machine is spending at a pace that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago, and almost all of it in one state. A Schedule E filing signed on October 15 by Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake affiliate, lists about $7.2 million in media buys naming Sherrod Brown and about $3.9 million naming Jon Husted, all disseminated on October 13, plus about $6.7 million naming independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska. The form itself does not say whether each buy supported or opposed the candidate; Cointelegraph and crypto.news both describe the Ohio spending as opposing Brown and backing Husted, the Republican incumbent.

That brings Defend American Jobs' cumulative Ohio spending to about $46.6 million, according to both outlets, more than 50% above the $30 million Fairshake said in September it planned to spend. Add the Digital Freedom Fund, a super PAC created by Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, which reported about $3 million in ads this week and about $5.9 million in total Ohio media, and the industry's bill against Brown passes $52 million.

Brown, who is seeking a return to the Senate two years after Fairshake spent $41 million backing Republican Bernie Moreno against him, hit back in a Pod Save America interview aired Friday. "Jon Husted is their boy," he said, per Cointelegraph. Fairshake is funded largely by Coinbase and Ripple, the outlet noted, and reported $193 million in cash on hand in January. Early voting in Ohio has been under way for ten days, with just under three weeks until election day.