A Solana-backed super PAC is using $8m to raise pro-crypto Jon Husted against Sherrod Brown, as crypto war chests like Fairshake and Fellowship renew the 2026 races.
Summary
- The Sentinel Action Fund will spend $8 million supporting Republican Jon Husted against Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
- The super PAC was registered by the Solana Institute, Multicoin Capital and major Wall Street donors.
- Crypto PACs like Fairshake and Fellowship are now running war chests approaching $200 million before November.
The Sentinel Action Fund, a US super PAC backed by the Solana Institute, will donate $8 million with its Right Vote advocacy arm to support Republican Jon Husted in the Ohio Senate race in November against Democrat Sherrod Brown. The group said in a statement on Wednesday that the money spent was aimed at raising a figure it considers “strongly pro-crypto” against one it accuses of obstructing the creation of the digital asset.
Husted has repeatedly called for a “pro-innovation framework for digital assets,” saying crypto and blockchain represent “the next wave of economic opportunity for working families.” On the contrary, Brown pushed for a ban on the use of crypto to finance terrorism and to avoid sanctions, and he lost his Senate seat in the 2024 race to crypto-friendly Republican Bernie Moreno, who was heavily supported by industry money.
Sentinel’s crypto funding was backed by a $750,000 donation from the Solana Institute and $250,000 from venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, according to Federal Election Commission records. “Brown has stood in the way of pro-innovation policies when it comes to digital assets,” said Sentinel Action Fund president Jessica Anderson, placing the PAC’s intervention as part of a broader fight over the direction of US crypto policy.
The PAC also received checks from Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman and Fisher Investments chairman Kenneth Fisher, underscoring the extent to which traditional funds are now openly funding pro-crypto political vehicles. Ohio’s Sentinel game is its third endorsement for the 2026 cycle, after it backed Maine Senator Susan Collins and Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, both of whom are considered allies in digital assets.
Crypto super PACs in their broadest sense have garnered significant firepower in November. Fairshake, backed by firms like Coinbase and a16z, has built a $193 million war chest and pledged to oppose “anti-crypto politicians” as Congress approaches a key vote on comprehensive digital asset legislation.
Another pro-crypto vehicle, Fellowship PAC, recently received a $10 million donation from Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street firm formerly owned by current US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the FEC. The group has named Tether’s American CEO Jesse Spiro as chairman to lead its “next phase of expansion” and will soon publish its first slate of endorsement candidates, indicating that stablecoin issuers are moving directly into US electoral politics.
In a previous crypto.news story on US policy battles regarding stablecoins and market structure, reporters highlighted how Solana-linked organizations, ETF issuers and exchange groups are turning to political spending as they seek friendlier rules for onchain finance.
