Crypto Super PAC pours $660K into Senate race as US election closes in. #PacFinance

With 57 days until the US election, expenditures from Super PACs seem to be heating up in Massachusetts and nationwide.

The Commonwealth Unity Fund, a political action committee (PAC) primarily funded by contributions from the co-founders of Gemini and Ripple Labs, has spent more than $600,000 on the election of Republican candidate John Deaton in the United States Senate.

According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records filed on Sept. 6, Commonwealth spent roughly $330,000 on media buys opposing Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Warren in the Massachusetts US Senate race. The Super PAC also spent the same amount on a media placement supporting Deaton

The media buy marked one of the first significant expenditures from a crypto-backed Super PAC since Deaton won the Republican nomination for the US Senate race on Sept. 3. Backed by crypto industry leaders including the Winklevoss twins and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell, the Republican candidate seeks to unseat Warren, who has served as Massachusetts’ Democratic Senator since 2013

Race to control US Senate

Deaton is a lawyer who has backed Ripple and other crypto firms facing litigation from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. During his campaign, he criticized the SEC and Senator Warren specifically for overreaching their authority regarding digital assets

As a Senator from Massachusetts, Warren has openly criticized cryptocurrency during congressional hearings, associating it with illicit activities, including money laundering and drug trafficking. However, many Democrats are rallying to push back on this narrative in an election year in an attempt to support presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris

According to FEC records, Commonwealth has raised more than $2.5 million to support Deaton. However, individual donors have contributed roughly $1.8 million directly to the Republican candidate’s campaign as of Aug. 14. Since 2019, Warren has raised more than $18 million toward her reelection.