Winklevoss Backed Super PAC Spends $81,000 on Texas Senate Race as Crypto Money Floods Midterms

The Digital Freedom Fund, a super PAC started in 2025 by Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has widened its midterm spending to Texas, Iowa and Ohio. A Tuesday filing with the Federal Election Commission shows its first Texas spending: more than $81,000 on direct mail backing Republican Ken Paxton and opposing Democrat James Talarico. Early voting began Oct. 19, and Election Day is Nov. 3. The group says it raised about $34 million as of Sept. 30. In Ohio, new spending on Republican Jon Husted against Democrat Sherrod Brown lifts its total backing for Husted to roughly $7 million.

Prediction Markets, the Clarity Act and Who Controls Congress

The spending comes as event contracts on Kalshi and Polymarket strongly favor Democrats winning back the House and Senate in 2027. Control of each chamber matters for crypto legislation such as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a market structure bill that failed a procedural Senate vote last month. Paxton previously received $500,000 in supportive ads before the May primary, where he beat Senator John Cornyn. That money came from the Fellowship PAC, backed by Anchorage Digital and Cantor Fitzgerald, and moved through the Nxum Group, a marketing firm co-founded by Bo Hines, a former Trump crypto adviser who later became CEO of Tether US. A Wall Street Journal report said Nxum profited while Hines pushed a stablecoin bill, receiving $6.3 million under a Tether deal.

Fairshake, Ohio and Musk’s Money

Fairshake, a PAC funded largely by Ripple Labs, Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz, reported over $13 million in direct mail spending this week. That includes more than $4 million against independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska and $9 million for Husted over Brown, bringing its Ohio investment to about $56 million. Texas has also drawn Republican donors worried about losing Senate and governor seats for the first time in over 30 years. Filings show Elon Musk put more than $150 million into the Senate Leadership Fund, which sent the same amount to a Texas PAC that has supported Paxton.