AI and crypto are spending fortunes on American elections, but the public remains skeptical
Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency have moved well beyond the tech section. They are now central players in a multimillion-dollar political battle in the United States. With the 2026 midterm elections approaching, two industries that move billions of dollars are pouring money into American campaigns like never before, and the goal is straightforward: make sure Congress plays on their side.
On one hand, Super PACs tied to AI and crypto have already racked up jaw-dropping fundraising totals aimed at influencing races across the country. Leading the Future, a pro-AI Super PAC founded last August, has raised more than 75 million dollars since its launch, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. On the other hand, a sizable chunk of Americans still look at these technologies with a healthy dose of distrust, whether out of fear of losing their job to an automated system or because they have never come anywhere near a digital wallet.
That contrast between Big Tech’s financial firepower and popular skepticism is exactly what makes this moment so fascinating to watch. 👀 This is not just a fight over regulation or who will fill seats in the U.S. Senate. It is a battle over how these technologies will be treated in the years ahead and who gets to write the rules of the game.
The money moving the political chessboard
When we talk about lobbying in the United States, we are not talking about casual backroom conversations or quiet favors. We are talking about a legal, structured, and extraordinarily well-funded system where interest groups organize multimillion-dollar contributions to support candidates aligned with their causes. Super PACs, which are independent political action committees, serve as the primary vehicles for that money. They can raise and spend virtually unlimited amounts as long as they do not coordinate directly with candidates’ campaigns.
The crypto industry was one of the first to grasp the potential of this system, and it wasted no time. Fairshake, a pro-crypto group primarily funded by Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Ripple Labs, has already spent 28 million dollars across several competitive primaries through its network of PACs. The group is expected to back candidates from both parties throughout the 2026 election cycle. The results are already being felt: multiple pro-crypto candidates winning in races that looked far more competitive before the money showed up.
Leading the Future, meanwhile, has directed resources toward primaries in North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, and New York, backing both Democratic and Republican candidates. These groups can easily become the biggest spenders in any House or Senate race they choose to enter — or in several at the same time.
Now, with 2026 on the horizon, the same playbook is being replicated on an even larger scale, and this time artificial intelligence has fully entered the conversation. AI companies, worried about proposed legislation that could impose restrictions on model development, data collection, or the commercial use of these tools, have begun mobilizing their own resources to ensure the regulatory environment stays favorable.
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Jason Thielman, former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, summed up the strategy of these groups well when commenting on crypto-aligned PACs: the common thread, from their perspective, is an attempt to maintain a degree of bipartisanship and identify people they believe will be champions for these causes.
Both sectors are also spending big on lobbying in Washington
The money does not stop at campaign donations. Both industries are spending fortunes on lobbyists in Washington to make sure their influence extends well beyond Election Day. AI lobbying, in particular, has grown at a staggering pace in recent years. OpenAI and Anthropic spent record amounts on lobbyists in the first quarter of 2026, signaling that the race to shape federal regulation is more intense than ever.
The crypto sector has also poured millions into lobbying efforts in recent years, pressing Congress to pass a sweeping overhaul of how digital assets are regulated in the United States. This combination of campaign spending and lobbying creates a near-omnipresent footprint for these industries in the corridors of American power.
Why regulation matters so much to these sectors
To understand why so much money is being put on the line, you need to look at what is actually on the table in the U.S. Congress.
On the crypto side, the big prize is passage of the CLARITY Act, a market structure bill currently making its way through the Senate. Executives and lobbyists in the space expect this legislation to give the industry a stamp of legitimacy from Washington and provide long-term certainty about how digital tokens will be overseen by market regulators. For companies in the sector, favorable regulation could mean billions in new business and access to the American institutional market. Hostile regulation, on the other hand, could push the entire operation offshore.
Super PAC money works like a carrot and a stick at the same time: it can help lawmakers facing competitive reelection campaigns in 2026 who support the industry’s goals, and it can threaten those who stand in the way.
One example that illustrates this dynamic well: in 2024, a Super PAC affiliated with Fairshake spent more than 40 million dollars to help defeat then-Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a longtime crypto critic. Brown is running again and could be a major target of the crypto PAC network once more.
Former Republican Congressman Jim Renacci of Ohio, who challenged Brown unsuccessfully in 2018, commented on the phenomenon: crypto groups are absolutely becoming a disruptive force in political spending, including in Ohio. But let us be honest, they are not unique. It is just the latest version of outside money.
The AI landscape is even more complex
On the artificial intelligence front, the regulatory landscape is different and, in many ways, more complicated. Unlike crypto, which already has a track record of regulatory battles, AI is at a stage where the rules are still being written from scratch. Questions about liability for harms caused by language models, use of copyrighted data in training, algorithmic transparency, and limits on autonomous systems making critical decisions are all open and being debated simultaneously on multiple fronts.
AI groups that are spending heavily on elections want to ensure their emerging industry is governed by a single set of federal rules rather than a patchwork of state laws. State legislators are rapidly passing new laws regulating the technology, and that trend deeply concerns companies in the sector.
Jesse Hunt, spokesperson for Leading the Future, was quite direct in a statement on the topic: a national framework will prevent a patchwork of conflicting state laws from undermining our ability to win the global AI race against China.
The White House and congressional Republicans have generally supported that goal, but so far they have proposed lighter-touch regulations that most Democrats believe do not go far enough. While the tech sector leans toward the Republican Party’s deregulatory approach, some lobbyists are open to more robust federal AI rules in exchange for a preemption of state laws on the subject.
For the companies building these technologies, every detail of how these rules get written can mean the difference between an open market and an operation bogged down by compliance. That is why lobbying has gone from a peripheral activity for these sectors to a top strategic priority.
The public has not bought into this yet
While the political backrooms buzz with all this capital flowing around, American public opinion remains far more divided about the role of artificial intelligence and crypto in society. And this is exactly where polling data reveals a significant disconnect between corporate interests and popular sentiment.
More than half of Americans say they have never bought and would not even consider buying or trading cryptocurrency. That number is pretty telling. For a lot of people, crypto is still synonymous with speculation, scams, or something that only makes sense if you have money to burn. The string of major platform collapses in recent years, most notably the FTX meltdown in 2022, left a lasting scar on the public imagination about what it means to trust money to a digital asset.
On the artificial intelligence front, the numbers are not much more encouraging for the industry. Nearly half of respondents believe AI will likely eliminate more jobs than it creates. On top of that, a plurality of 43% of Americans say the risks of the technology outweigh the benefits. The fear of automation, of roles being replaced by automated systems, and of an even greater concentration of power in the hands of a few tech companies resonates in a very real way for a large share of the population.
That gap between what the industry wants and what the average voter thinks is precisely the terrain where the political fight will play out. Super PACs are betting they can elect candidates through sheer ad volume and campaign funding, but history shows that money goes a long way in American politics without going all the way. Candidates who completely ignore popular sentiment still lose elections, and that creates a compelling tension heading into the next few cycles.
What to expect in the months ahead
With 2026 approaching, the pace of political maneuvering is going to pick up considerably. On the legislative front, bills related to crypto regulation are expected to advance in Congress, especially with the CLARITY Act already under discussion in the Senate. The bipartisan activity around the issue suggests some resolution may be closer than a lot of people think.
For artificial intelligence, the road is longer and far less certain. The speed at which the technology evolves makes it extremely difficult for any lawmaker to write rules that will still make sense two or three years from now. That opens the door to different approaches, ranging from broad, principles-based frameworks to sector-specific regulations for areas like healthcare, finance, and public safety. Industry lobbyists will work hard to make sure whatever path is chosen preserves the flexibility to innovate.
Meanwhile, the carrot-and-stick dynamics of Super PACs are set to heat up primaries across the country. Candidates in key states will need to take clearer positions on AI and crypto than ever before, knowing that both the support and the opposition of these groups can mean tens of millions of dollars flowing for or against their campaigns.
What is clear is that the intersection of technology, money, and politics has never been more visible than it is right now. The way the U.S. Congress decides to handle artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency in the coming years will have a direct impact not only on the American market but on how these sectors develop globally. And with this much money on the line, you can bet that neither side is going to let this conversation happen without being well-represented at the table. 💡
