Crypto PAC Spends $2M Against Florida Democrat With No Crypto Record

3 min readPublished 19 Aug 2026

A political committee funded by Coinbase and Ripple Labs has poured more than $2 million into ads opposing a Democratic congressional candidate who, according to Cointelegraph, never staked out a position on crypto policy. The spending, reported the same day by Cointelegraph and Crypto Briefing, targets Oliver Gilbert in Florida’s 24th congressional district — and raises a question neither outlet fully answers: why hit a candidate with no crypto record at all?

What happened

Cointelegraph reported that Federal Election Commission records, as of Tuesday, showed Protect Progress PAC — an affiliate of the industry-backed Fairshake network — had spent more than $2 million on ads opposing Gilbert. Crypto Briefing independently reported the same rough figure, describing Fairshake as having

directed roughly $2 million toward a congressional race in Florida’s 24th district

, according to its own account.

Cointelegraph reported that, before the PAC’s involvement, none of the Democratic primary candidates had made digital-asset policy a notable part of their campaign platforms. The trigger, according to both outlets, was an endorsement: Cointelegraph named the endorser as Representative Frederica Wilson, who is not seeking reelection and who voted against both the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act while in Congress. Cointelegraph reported that endorsement came at a June 22 event.

Cointelegraph reported that Shevrin Jones, a Florida state senator also running in the Democratic primary, was ahead of Gilbert in an early August poll and had completed a Stand With Crypto questionnaire earning a “strongly supports” rating — a detail available only in Cointelegraph’s account.

Where the two accounts agree — and where they don’t

Both outlets agree on the headline number: roughly $2 million spent, funded by a PAC tied to Coinbase and Ripple Labs, aimed at a Democratic candidate in FL-24, following an endorsement from a lawmaker who opposed the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts.

They diverge sharply on what kind of vote this is. Cointelegraph frames the spending around Florida’s Aug. 18 primary, alongside congressional primaries the same day in Alaska, California and Wyoming. Crypto Briefing instead calls FL-24 a “special election.” The two characterizations are not reconciled in either report.

The size of Fairshake’s overall resources is also reported differently. Cointelegraph put Fairshake’s war chest at $193 million as of January, with more than $82 million already spent on primaries and special elections as of June. Crypto Briefing instead gave a range, reporting that Fairshake and its affiliates had collectively raised somewhere between $100 million and $193 million across recent election cycles — a looser figure that overlaps with, but does not match the precision of, Cointelegraph’s number.

A $1.5 million figure appears in both pieces but refers to different things. Cointelegraph reported that Defend American Jobs, a Fairshake-affiliated PAC supporting Republicans, spent a combined $1.5 million backing Representative Nick Begich in Alaska, Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida’s 16th district, and Representative Harriet Hageman in Wyoming. Crypto Briefing, by contrast, reported that the PAC had spent nearly $1.5 million on ads tied to other 2025 special elections, without naming the races. Cointelegraph additionally reported that Protect Progress spent more than $150,000 supporting Representative Lois Frankel’s reelection bid in Florida’s 23rd district — a figure not mentioned by Crypto Briefing.

Gilbert’s response and Fairshake’s defense

Cointelegraph reported that Gilbert accused “Trump’s tech billionaire buddies” of being behind “crypto con artists trying to buy a Democratic primary” through ads that Cointelegraph said included fake Miami Herald headlines unrelated to digital asset policy. Cointelegraph said it reached out to Gilbert’s campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

A Fairshake spokesperson told Cointelegraph:

“The facts are the facts, and, as the Miami Herald stated, the underlying facts in our ad are true.”

Cointelegraph reported that the spokesperson did not comment on the PAC’s reason for the expenditures.

Why it matters

Crypto Briefing reported that the GENIUS Act, which sets a federal framework for stablecoin regulation, passed the House 308-122, and the CLARITY Act passed 294-134, both in July 2025. Cointelegraph reported that both chambers of Congress are on recess until September, when the Senate is expected to vote on the CLARITY Act. The Florida spending lands as that vote approaches, and as a PAC that has previously rewarded or punished lawmakers on their GENIUS/CLARITY votes appears, in this case, to be targeting a candidate over an endorsement rather than a voting record.

What remains unresolved

Whether FL-24 is properly a primary or a special election is unresolved between the two accounts. The precise size of Fairshake’s total resources — $193 million per Cointelegraph versus the $100 million-to-$193 million range per Crypto Briefing — has not been reconciled. And Gilbert’s fuller response to the PAC spending remains unknown, since Cointelegraph reported no reply to its request for comment.