Crypto Group Spends Another $1M on Michigan Election Race

Big money from the crypto (digital money like Bitcoin) industry is flowing into US elections, and one Michigan race is the latest target.

A PAC (Political Action Committee — a group that raises and spends money to support or oppose political candidates) called Protect Progress has spent another $1 million backing candidate Shri Thanedar in Michigan's House of Representatives race.

Why is the crypto industry supporting Thanedar? During his time in Congress, he backed several laws that benefit the crypto sector:

• Voted for the GENIUS Act (a law about stablecoins — digital coins tied to the value of the US dollar)
• Supported the CLARITY Act (a bill setting rules for how crypto markets operate)
• Cosponsored a bill to protect blockchain software developers

His opponent, Donavan McKinney, criticized the spending. He claimed "the crypto lobby is paying my opponent back" and pointed to reports that President Trump earned over $1.4 billion from crypto investments in 2025, partly through his own memecoin (a joke or hype-based crypto token) and his family's business.

The bigger picture: Protect Progress is linked to Fairshake, one of the most powerful crypto political funds in the country. The numbers are huge:

• Fairshake and its affiliates spent over $170 million in the 2024 election
• They spent over $82 million of the roughly $189 million crypto companies used in the 2026 cycle
• Fairshake held a $193 million war chest (money saved up for spending) as of January

The group isn't just focused on Michigan. It's also spending in Texas, Illinois, Washington, and Alabama. For example, a related PAC spent over $511,000 supporting a Republican candidate in Alabama.

Bottom line: The crypto industry is spending enormous sums to elect politicians who will pass laws favorable to digital money. Critics worry this gives crypto companies — and figures like Trump — too much influence over how the industry gets regulated.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-pac-michigan-thanedar-mckinney?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound