Bernie Moreno, a Republican crypto champion backed by $40 million in industry campaign cash, defeated Sherrod Brown, a Democratic incumbent and industry sceptic, in the Ohio Senate race Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

That’s a big deal for crypto.

“This is what happens when you mess with the crypto army,” Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of crypto exchange Gemini, wrote early Wednesday on X.

As chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Brown was considered a major obstacle to the passage of legislation that would loosen regulations on crypto companies.

Moreno, on the other hand, is a blockchain entrepreneur who has promised to turn Cleveland into a tech hub.

The crypto industry’s super PAC, Fairshake, spent more than $40 million on his bid to unseat Brown, according to Follow the Crypto, a campaign funds tracker managed by crypto researcher Molly White.

Democrats came into Tuesday with a 51 to 49 majority in the Senate over Republicans. Moreno’s victory all but guarantees that the Republicans have won back the upper chamber of Congress.

BERNIE MORENO! Huge W.

Absolutely thrilled for this incredible crypto entrepreneur, human and now, US Senator from Ohio.

Congrats @berniemoreno!

— Mike Dudas (@mdudas) November 6, 2024

In West Virginia, Jim Justice flipped a seat to the GOP on Tuesday after Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, decided to retire in June.

Now that Brown, a three-term senator, has lost, his Senate Banking Committee colleague Elizabeth Warren could become the committee’s top-ranking Democrat, while current ranking member, Republican Tim Scott, may be picked for chair.

Warren won re-election on Tuesday. Scott is a blockchain believer.

Trump’s choice

Despite once referring to Donald Trump as a “lunatic,” Moreno ran in 2024 with the former president’s endorsement, appealing to Ohio’s increasingly MAGA voters.

Moreno opposes abortion, supports tough restrictions on immigration, and rails against the “woke agenda,” “Communist China,” and “Mexican drug cartels.”

Formerly a supporter of LGBTQ rights, Moreno now repeats transphobic talking points.

Once a highly competitive swing state, Ohio has shifted to the right as its population has become older and more homogeneously white. Neither Trump nor Kamala Harris bothered to campaign there in 2024.

Brown, a progressive populist, has long enjoyed support from Ohio’s labour unions.

Moreno’s bio

Moreno is a multimillionaire whose campaign portrayed him as a scrappy political outsider and cast Brown as a career politician.

A native of Colombia, Moreno likes to imply that his family worked hard from humble beginnings to achieve the American Dream.

In fact, Moreno’s father was a doctor from one of Bogotá's most prominent families and held high office in government.

Moreno himself began his career at General Motors and went on to run luxury car dealerships.

In 2019, he sold some dealerships to fund a blockchain startup, Ownum. He has been vocal in his support of crypto as well as his denunciations of Brown and Warren, Brown’s ally and Senate Banking colleague.

Moreno’s campaign has not been without scandal. The Associated Press published a story in March that linked Moreno’s email address to a 2008 ad on an adult website looking for a casual hookup with a man.

He has been caught in lies about his education and his wealth. He spread false, racist reports that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating their neighbours’ pets.

None of that deterred Ohio voters.

Joanna Wright is DL News’ regulatory correspondent, and Ben Weiss is DL News’ Dubai-based correspondent. Reach out to Joanna at joanna@dlnews.com and Ben at bweiss@dlnews.com.