Stand With Crypto ramps up midterm push with 32 House endorsements

Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto is backing more than 30 House candidates, including Republican Warren Davidson and Democrat Ritchie Torres, as it looks to flex its political influence once more in the upcoming midterm elections.

On Monday, the Coinbase-backed group said it was backing 32 House candidates it views as pro-crypto. SWC said it would announce who they are backing in the Senate closer to Election Day, in a statement. 

"The midterms come at a key inflection point for crypto policy in Washington, D.C. as candidates from both parties are trying to reach voters outside of more traditional constituencies, they overlook Crypto Voters at their own peril," said SWC Executive Director Mason Lynaugh in the statement. 

SWC and the broader crypto industry played a significant role in the 2024 elections, spending millions of dollars through super PACs to influence political outcomes. One PAC, Fairshake, spent $12 million in Ohio for crypto-friendly Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024, who defeated crypto-critic and former Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown. In April of this year, money is ramping up again to back Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio, who is set to face Brown in November. 

Over the past year, Stand With Crypto has launched a voter hub that grades lawmakers based on their crypto positions and earlier endorsed a slate of six bipartisan candidates ahead of November. The group also has an eye on which lawmakers vote for the Clarity Act — a bill that would comprehensively regulate the crypto industry for the first time at the federal level. In May, Lynaugh told The Block that a vote on the Senate floor for the bill "will be the most important vote that lawmakers have ever taken as it pertains to crypto."

Next up, Clarity

The next vote for the Clarity Act is scheduled for Sept. 15, shortly after lawmakers return from their month-long August recess. The vote is procedural and will be in front of the full Senate, though as of Monday, it doesn't seem to have the necessary 60 votes to get through for an actual vote. 

The bill has been hit with one setback after another, including a battle between banks and crypto over the treatment of stablecoin rewards, concerns about illicit finance, and the latest big snag — how to address Trump's growing crypto wealth, which has grown to hundreds of millions of dollars linked to World Liberty Financial and his official memecoin.

In July, Trump agreed to an ethics provision barring public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, but Democrats criticized it for limiting enforcement to the Justice Department. A new bipartisan proposal from Sens. Ruben Gallego and Thom Tillis would expand enforcement to state attorneys general, but that has not yet gotten Trump's green light. 

On Sunday, one of the bill's lead negotiators, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, called for the bill to include an ethics provision, citing a poll released by Reuters and market research firm Ipsos that found 63% of Americans believe Trump's crypto profits are not appropriate.

“We can pass smart, clear rules for digital assets and shut down presidential self-dealing at the same time," Gillibrand said. "There must be an enforceable ban, and any market structure bill that leaves enforcement solely in the hands of the president’s own Justice Department and allows him to profit from crypto isn’t a reform."

"It’s a permission slip," she added.