OpenSecrets: the crypto industry gave $73M in the 2022 US midterms, up from $13M in 2020; FTX has become the third-largest source of 2022 campaign contributions
Paul Kiernan / Wall Street Journal :
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2022 cycle was the moment crypto's political spending went from novelty to scale: FEC data had already shown sector donations passing $26.3M in 2021 and early 2022, outpacing Big Tech, drug makers, and defense — and OpenSecrets' final tally of $73M, a more than fivefold jump from 2020, confirms the surge. FTX ranking as the third-largest single source of contributions is the detail that dates the story: the exchange collapsed weeks after this reporting, leaving its beneficiary list frozen mid-cycle.
The arc since is one of escalation despite the FTX shock. Coinbase led sector lobbying at $2.16M in the first three quarters of 2023, crypto-backed super PACs raised $102M+ for the 2024 elections, and by the 2026 midterms industry spending had reached $288M+, over double the 2024 cycle, with Fairshake now the US' fifth most-funded PAC. This 2022 data point is the baseline against which all of that growth measures.
First-order effects
- FTX's collapse makes its donor ranking a liability for the candidates and committees that took its money, while removing the third-largest contributor from the sector's 2024 bench — a hole rivals must fill immediately.
Second-order effects
- Coinbase and other surviving exchanges picked up the spending baton, with Coinbase topping sector lobbying at $2.16M and corporate money flowing into super PACs like Fairshake rather than direct contributions — a structure less exposed to any single company's failure.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, crypto's political footprint becomes institutional rather than company-dependent: sector-backed PACs already accounted for roughly half of all corporate election money in 2024, making the industry a standing constituency in campaign finance regardless of which exchanges survive.
The trend: Crypto's political spending is compounding cycle over cycle — $13M in 2020, $73M in 2022, $119M+ through mid-2024, $288M+ in 2026 — shifting from direct corporate donations to durable PAC infrastructure built to outlast individual firms like FTX.