Ripple and Coinbase-funded PAC drops $2M on Florida congressional race

The crypto industry’s most powerful political weapon is taking aim at Florida. Fairshake, the super PAC bankrolled by Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and other digital asset heavyweights, has directed roughly $2 million toward a congressional race in Florida’s 24th district, turning what might have been a sleepy special election into a test case for how far crypto money can reshape American politics.

The trigger: a retiring Florida House member who voted against both the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act has endorsed a Democratic candidate in the race. That endorsement appears to have painted a target on the candidate’s opponents, with Fairshake gearing up a wave of negative advertising to tip the scales toward lawmakers more sympathetic to digital asset innovation.

Fairshake’s growing war chest

Fairshake and its affiliated organizations, Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress, have collectively raised somewhere between $100 million and $193 million across recent election cycles.

The $2 million earmarked for the FL-24 race sits alongside nearly $1.5 million the PAC has already spent on ads tied to other 2025 special elections.

The legislation that started the fight

The GENIUS Act, which establishes a federal framework for stablecoin regulation, cleared the House with a 308-122 vote. The CLARITY Act, designed to create a structured regulatory approach to the broader digital asset market, passed 294-134 in the same month. Both bills passed in July 2025.

The retiring Florida representative voted against both. Their endorsement of a Democratic candidate in FL-24 effectively signals to Fairshake that the endorsed candidate might carry the same anti-crypto legislative posture.

The PAC’s track record

Fairshake-backed candidates won races across multiple states in the 2024 cycle, and the resulting congressional composition proved friendly enough to push both the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act through the House with room to spare.

What this means for the crypto industry

Coinbase has spent years fighting regulatory uncertainty that depressed its stock and constrained its product roadmap. Ripple, which battled the SEC in a years-long lawsuit over XRP’s classification, has an obvious interest in ensuring that sympathetic lawmakers hold the levers of oversight.

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