There's an election next month: State of Crypto — SkimNews
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- Congress is out of session for its final pre-election recess, one month before the November 3, 2026 midterm that will determine control of the House and Senate and, with it, the trajectory of crypto oversight and legislation.
- Polling on 270towin as of October 2, 2026 suggests Democrats will flip the House while the Senate is a tossup, and both Kalshi and Polymarket bettors favor Democrats taking both chambers.
- The Clarity Act collapsed last month, leaving regulatory jurisdictional questions between the SEC, CFTC, OCC, and Treasury unresolved heading into next year's budget and oversight cycle.
- The House Ways and Means Committee passed a crypto tax bill on a bipartisan basis last month, and Senator Steve Daines introduced a crypto tax bill in the Senate the prior week—making tax legislation the most likely near-term congressional crypto action.
- The Fairshake Super PAC and the Digital Freedom Fund (funded primarily by Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss) have spent $30 million and $3 million respectively targeting former Senator Sherrod Brown, with Fairshake telling CoinDesk on Wednesday it has no further expenditures to announce.
- The crypto industry fears a Democratic Congress could subpoena firms tied to President Donald Trump's crypto business dealings, a scenario hinging on whether Democrats win both chambers.
Why it matters: The crypto industry is concentrating $33 million in combined PAC spending against a single target—former Senator Sherrod Brown—while the Clarity Act's collapse leaves SEC, CFTC, and OCC jurisdictional lines unresolved and a potential Democratic sweep raises the prospect of subpoenas into Trump-connected crypto firms, a scenario hinging on whether Democrats win both chambers and the Senate.
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