Crypto comes to Washington. Will the millions buy influence?

WASHINGTON » Erin Houchin braced for the worst when a mysterious, well-financed group started buying television ads last month in her highly competitive southern Indiana congressional race.

Houchin assumed she would face a negative blitz, like the one that crushed her in 2016 when she ran for the same seat. But, in fact, the opposite happened.

American Dream Federal Action, a super political action committee financed by a cryptocurrency CEO, saturated the district with ads promoting Houchin as a “Trump Tough” conservative who would “stop the socialists in Washington.” That push helped secure her victory last week in a Republican primary.

“All you can do is hold your breath,” Houchin’s longtime consultant, Cam

Savage, said upon learning about the ad buy. “It could help you, but the fear is it will end you.” He said Houchin had not sought the support and had no ties to the industry other than filling out a candidate survey from a cryptocurrency group.

The impact of the unsolicited help shows how cryptocurrency tycoons are emerging as political power players. They are pouring millions of dollars into primary elections as they try to gain influence over members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, who will write laws governing their industry, as well as other government officials who are crafting regulations.

This year, for the first time, industry executives have flooded money into congressional races, spending $20 million so far, according to records and interviews.

It’s a delicate but deliberate march by companies that by their very nature make money based in part on evading government attention.

In addition to campaign spending, more than $100 million has been spent lobbying around the issue since 2018 by crypto companies, as well as those who stand to lose if the industry goes mainstream, records show.

Following a well-worn path, they have retained former high-ranking officials such as Max Baucus, a former Democratic senator from Montana who once led the Senate Finance Committee.

The push comes as the Biden administration and Congress not only consider new regulations but also set funding levels for agencies that will oversee the industry.

Officials are considering what consumer protections and financial reporting requirements to put in place and how to crack down on criminals who take advantage of the anonymity offered by cryptocurrency to evade taxes, launder money and commit fraud.

“What do they want? They want no regulation, or they want to help write the regulation. What else is new?” asked Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, an industry critic.

Cryptocurrencies are a digital asset that can be traded over the internet without relying on the global banking system. They have been promoted as a way for those with limited means to build wealth by investing in the next big thing. But they also are highly speculative and often lack transparency, which substantially increases risk.

The price of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum plunged Thursday, shedding billions in value, while Coinbase, the largest crypto trading platform in the U.S., has lost half its value over the past week.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that the turmoil underscores the need for regulation of the largely unregulated industry.

“We’ve had a real-life demonstration of the risks,” she told the House Financial Services Committee.

Jan Santiago, deputy director of Global Anti-Scam, an organization that helps victims of cryptocurrency fraud, said the industry has been reluctant to police bad actors.

“Unless it affects their bottom line or public reputation, I don’t think there’s any financial incentive for them,” he said.

There are signs that crypto is going mainstream. Fidelity Investments, one of the nation’s largest providers of retirement accounts, announced earlier this month it will start allowing investors to put bitcoin in their 401(k) accounts.

At the same time, government scrutiny is increasing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission released a plan last week that would nearly double the size of its staff focused on cryptocurrency oversight. Days later, the Justice Department indicted the CEO of a cryptocurrency platform, alleging he orchestrated a “$62 million global investment fraud scheme,” among scores of civil and criminal crypto cases brought by federal authorities. Prosecutors say he promised generous returns but instead absconded with investors’ money.

Members of Congress and the administration have raised concerns that Russian oligarchs could turn to cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions put in place when Russia invaded Ukraine.

But at least one lawmaker has been an active participant in promoting the allure of crypto riches.