The Crypto and AI industries raised $250 million over the past year for the US midterm elections

On April 16, the Financial Times reported that the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) industries have collectively raised approximately $250 million over the past year to support congressional candidates in the November midterm elections. In February, Andreessen Horowitz co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz donated a combined $25 million to the Super Political Action Committee (Super PAC) “Leading The Future,” which backs AI-friendly candidates. The group has raised roughly $75 million from billionaires including the two founders and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman; when including “dark money” nonprofits that do not disclose their donors, that total climbs to $140 million. Separately, Fairshake—the crypto industry’s largest Super PAC—has raised more than $134 million. In January, Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald (formerly led by current U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, now run by his son Brandon, who has ties to Tether) donated $10 million to Fellowship, a pro-crypto Super PAC. Anchor Labs, parent company of a major crypto platform, also made an additional $1 million contribution to Fellowship PAC. In March, Elon Musk donated $1.6 million to his America PAC—a sharp drop from his 2024 activity, when he gave over $250 million to various PACs. Anthropic has pledged $20 million to the nonprofit Public First Action, which has redirected some funds to Super PACs to influence the 2026 elections. The company stands out in the industry by explicitly calling for strict federal AI safety regulations, putting it at odds with most other industry participants.