Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate race in Ohio, has reportedly sold his Bitcoin (BTC) holdings in an effort to avoid potential conflicts of interest with the cryptocurrency industry.
According to a report from Cleveland.com on October 28th, Moreno expressed his pride in receiving support from the crypto industry as he vies to unseat Senator Sherrod Brown.
Moreno has garnered over $40 million in support through media buys from the political action committee (PAC) Defend American Jobs, an affiliate of Fairshake that primarily assists Republican candidates.
“I’m proud that the industry supports me,” Moreno stated. “And by the way, the reason they supported me is because they agree with me, not because I agree with them.”
Brown, who serves as the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, has been a vocal skeptic of digital assets. Polls from October indicated that Moreno and Brown were neck and neck in the 2024 election, a seat that could determine Republican control of the Senate.
In addition to PAC money, several prominent crypto executives, including Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, have directly contributed to Moreno’s campaign.
However, it was reported that Ron Conway, one of Fairshake’s top donors, withdrew his support for the crypto PAC after learning of its intention to back Moreno.
Moreno, a businessman from Ohio, has never held elected office. In 2018, he advocated for the state to accept tax payments in BTC, but the proposal was not approved. He has stated that if elected, he aims to provide “regulatory certainty” for the industry.
The Senate race between Brown and Moreno is expected to be one of the most expensive in the 2024 US election, second only to the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Reports suggest that candidates and PACs spent over $400 million on campaigning and media ads for the Ohio Senate race.