Another crypto-focused political action committee, Defend Developers PAC, has joined the fray of campaign finance operations that have put the industry on the political map in recent years.
The new entrant will not compete with the sector’s leading super PAC, Fairshake, nor is it expected to scale the mid-level committees that include the Fellowship PAC linked to Tether and the Digital Freedom Fund linked to Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss at Gemini. But it approaches the political field differently than others by supporting incumbent lawmakers who have already proven allies to its cause: the legal protection of crypto developers and creators of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.
“We plan to raise and contribute more than six figures across dozens of key midterm races because cryptotechs deserve champions in Congress who will fight for them,” Gavin Zavatone, the PAC’s founder, said in a Wednesday statement announcing the effort. Zavatone is also the policy director at the DeFi Education Fund, an industry association that lobbies for DeFi-friendly policy.
Defend Developers — federally registered last month — is what’s known as a hybrid PAC, meaning it can make direct contributions to candidates that follow Federal Election Commission limits as well as channel unlimited corporate contributions to independent ads. The majority of the crypto sector’s high-profile political intervention has been through super PACs that have no monetary limits, although another new PAC, the Blockchain Leadership Fund established by Anchorage Digital and Chainlink, is also a hybrid.
“As a hybrid PAC, we’re building the political infrastructure to ensure the United States remains the best place in the world to build blockchain technology freely — and we’re doing it the right way, powered by individual contributions raised directly from the founders, builders and CEOs who have the most at stake,” Zavatone said. The board behind him includes members from Uniswap Labs, DEF, and the Solana Policy Institute, though no dollar amount of its initial funding has yet been disclosed.
Without the tens of millions invested by Fairshake and its affiliates, a new crypto PAC is unlikely to make big waves. Fairshake is coming off his latest primary wins this week after endorsing nine Democratic U.S. House candidates in California, one in New Jersey and Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds in South Dakota. All of them won their primaries on Tuesday, maintaining a high winning record for crypto-supporting politicians for whom Fairshake bought independent ads, even though the PAC spent no more than $476,000 (for US Rep. George Whitsides) on this week’s race.
Fairshake had spent $6.5 million in his successful effort to ensure veteran House lawmaker and crypto critic Al Green lost to Christian Menefee in their Texas primary last week. However, Super PACs — one of the largest in American politics — have also seen a few misfires, such as in Illinois.
The November general election brings extremely high stakes with the potential to shift the party majority to Democrats in at least one chamber of Congress.
Read more: The crypto industry’s massive political war chest begins to lean Republican ahead of the midterms
