Two weeks after the Clarity Act failed in the Senate, the crypto industry has started drawing its election map. In Decrypt’s daily newsletter Morning Minute, Stand With Crypto, the advocacy group Coinbase started in 2023, announced its first Senate endorsements on Wednesday and framed the next phase clearly: the fight has moved from the Capitol to the campaign trail.
Stand With Crypto puts Ohio at the center
The group backed Republican Jon Husted against Sherrod Brown, who previously ran the Senate Banking Committee and has spent years as one of crypto’s most vocal critics. Decrypt said Ohio matters more than the other two Senate races combined because a Brown win would place him in a powerful seat on the committee that writes the rules for the industry.
Stand With Crypto also endorsed Republican Ashley Hinson in Iowa and Democrat Chris Pappas in New Hampshire. The newsletter said Pappas is running against former Republican senator John Sununu.
House endorsements and ad plans
On the House side, the group backed Iowa Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Alabama Democrat Shomari Figures. It also said more advertising is planned in six additional races.
Stand With Crypto said it chooses candidates based on their crypto positions rather than party affiliation. Back in August, it endorsed 32 House incumbents.
Money behind the push
Decrypt described the money behind the effort as enormous, while noting that Stand With Crypto does not donate directly. Instead, it grades candidates and works to turn out voters. Its executive director said the group’s 3 million supporters are now focused entirely on electing pro-crypto candidates.
Candidates who receive strong ratings from the group often go on to attract money from crypto-aligned PACs. Fairshake PAC has already launched a $30 million campaign against Brown. Total crypto political spending in this cycle is approaching $200 million, according to the newsletter.
After the Clarity Act failed
The newsletter recapped that the Clarity Act failed 49 to 50, with every Democrat voting against it over concerns tied to Trump’s own crypto businesses. Even so, Stand With Crypto is backing two more Democrats in the midterms. Decrypt called that a somewhat counter-intuitive bet, with the outcome still to be seen.
Macro, crypto, and markets
Major crypto assets were mostly flat, with HYPE leading. BTC was unchanged at $83.9k, ETH rose 1% to $2,705, SOL fell 2% to $118, HYPE gained 4% to $90, and ZEC slipped 2% to $1,410.
Top altcoin movers included STX, up 18%, NIGHT, up 16%, and FET, up 6%.
In broader markets, oil rose 2% to $93 and gold fell 0.2% to $4,202. Stock futures were slightly green, with the Dow up 0.01% and the Nasdaq up 0.45%.
Citi raised its year-end Bitcoin target to $113,000 and its ETH target to $3,028, citing ETF flows, DAT buybacks, and SEC rule changes.
Regulatory and institutional developments
MetaMask Staking is removing all of its Ethereum validators from Lido after someone broke into its infrastructure. The exits are set to finish by October 7, and the ETH may take as long as 45 days to cycle back.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent the White House two rules that would redefine “swap” around event contracts, locking in its authority over prediction markets while states sue platforms over alleged illegal gambling.
The CFTC is also investigating Adam Kinzinger over Kalshi trades on whether he would receive a presidential pardon. Those trades were placed in late 2024 before Biden pardoned him.
Stablecoins, payments, and protocol updates
Open Standard launched OUSD, a stablecoin that gives away most of its own equity to the partners helping it expand. The project is backed by more than 100 companies, including Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, and Coinbase, and went live on Tempo with more than $400 million in liquidity.
Zcash holders approved $8.39 million in grants for work already completed, funding 17 of 37 proposals. That included $1.5 million for the researcher who found a bug that could have allowed someone to counterfeit coins.
Lloyds settled $750,000 with Visa using USDC in a seven-day test, marking Visa’s first stablecoin settlement trial with a major UK bank.
ETF flows
Bitcoin ETFs recorded $149 million in net outflows on Wednesday. ETH ETFs saw $60 million in outflows, while Solana products posted $12.5 million in outflows.
Meme coins and chain activity
Meme coin leaders were mostly in the red. DOGE was flat, SHIB fell 1%, PEPE rose 1%, PENGU dropped 6%, TRUMP added 1%, SPX gained 3%, and BONK fell 6%.
Among Robinhood chain leaders, most names were down, though Orbio led higher. Pons fell 4% to $370 million, AI dropped 11% to $160 million, Cashcat slipped 1% to $170 million, and Orbio jumped 60% to $100 million. Hookr rose 23%, Prism gained 20%, and Priors climbed 100%.
On Solana, SI led with a 500% move, e/acc rose 60%, Micro reached 24x, OCT gained 60%, and Backpack hit 50x. Ansem fell 1% to $138 million.
Decrypt’s media-market push and Solana revenue
Decrypt said it is becoming The Information Exchange and will pair its reporting with markets on Solana, allowing readers to trade on a story without leaving it. The MYR token sits at the center of that system, with products rolling out over the coming weeks into Solana Breakpoint.
Solana’s monthly app revenue reached a nine-month high of $180 million in September, leading all chains.
Among on-chain protocols, Pump led revenue again at $2.39 million, followed by Hyperliquid at $1.25 million and Stonk at $1.17 million.
Monad teased a privacy update that could become a new protocol offering.
NFTs
NFT leaders were mixed. Punks fell 1% to 33 ETH, BAYC rose 2% to 6.2 ETH, and Pudgy fell 3% to 3.19 ETH.
OTC Desks, up 88%, and Hypurr, up 12%, led the top movers.
A Zombie CryptoPunk sold for $875,000 overnight, the largest Punk sale since August 2025.