Sherrod Brown tones down his anti-crypto rhetoric after Big Tech spends $200 million to target critics

Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, who is running against U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, in November, has become less critical of cryptocurrency companies after the industry announced plans to spend $200 million targeting their critics in the upcoming general election.

In addition to pushing back against its critics, Fairshake, a super PAC group financially backed by leading crypto companies, will support its allies. Since Brown has a history of attempting to regulate and restrict the industry, he would become one of the targets, just like he was back in 2024, when he lost an election against U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.

“Sherrod Brown recognizes that cryptocurrency is a part of America’s economy,” Brown’s campaign manager, Patrick Eisenhauer, said in a statement, according to Politico. “He’ll keep an open mind towards all issues as they come before the Senate, and work to ensure that as more people use cryptocurrency, it expands opportunity and lifts up Ohioans.”

The recent statement runs counter to Brown’s previous rhetoric on the industry. In 2023, Brown urged the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to regulate crypto, adding that the lack of transparency from the industry hurts Americans.

Hamas's terrorism is fueled by cryptocurrency. We need to crack down on illicit crypto and stop terrorists from moving money around, evading sanctions, and funding their acts of evil.

We must curb this emerging threat & protect our national security. pic.twitter.com/45v6xBpmXM

— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) October 18, 2023

“As they examine crypto tokens, consumers and investors need to be able to assess risks, avoid fraud, and understand conflicts of interest. The vacuum of accurate, investment-useful information, however, has led to the proliferation of outright scams, platforms vulnerable to manipulation by informed insiders, and hacks that drain customer accounts. The damage is staggering: just last year, nearly $10 billion was lost to crypto scams or stolen in hacks,” Brown wrote in one of his statements.

During the same year, Brown alleged that the crypto fuels Hamas’s terrorism, adding that the U.S. government needs to “crack down on illicit crypto and stop terrorists from moving money around, evading sanctions, and funding their acts of evil.”

“We must curb this emerging threat & protect our national security,” he wrote on X.

As a result, the industry decided to remove him from his job, the threat that Brown welcomed in December 2023.

“Bring ’em on,” he said, according to Politico. “They clearly have betrayed the public interest.”
As expected, Brown’s 2024 campaign officials adopted the same attitude, with his 2024 campaign manager, Rachel Petri, previously telling the news source that Brown “takes a back seat to no one when it comes to standing up to special interests — including crypto — to level the playing field for Ohioans and protect them from fraud.”

PACs affiliated with Fairshake later donated more than $40 million to defeat Brown in the 2024 election, an attempt that turned out to be successful, since Moreno won that year, removing Brown from Washington, D.C.

Fairshake spokesperson, Geoff Vetter, told Politico that the group doesn’t “comment on individual races or strategic decision-making,” but “will continue to oppose anti-crypto politicians and support pro-crypto candidates who are committed to advancing pro-innovation policies that grow our economy.”

“Lifelong, and otherwise unemployable, politician @SherrodBrown has a deeply unintelligent view of innovation. He shouldn’t be near the decision making process for ANY industry, let alone crypto,” Moreno said in response to the recent news about Brown softening his rhetoric regarding the crypto industry. “He suffered a humiliating loss last year and will suffer another one this year.”

Lifelong, and otherwise unemployable, politician @SherrodBrown has a deeply unintelligent view of innovation. He shouldn’t be near the decision making process for ANY industry, let alone crypto.

He suffered a humiliating loss last year and will suffer another one this year. https://t.co/rzzbiCowUN

— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) May 7, 2026

Meanwhile, NBC 4 reported that a Democratic PAC announced that it would spend $40 million on Brown’s 2026 campaign after he won the Democratic primary.

“Every time Jon Husted had a choice between Ohio families and Donald Trump, he chose Trump,” Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French said, according to the news source. “Sherrod Brown is offering Ohioans a senator who actually fights for them, with a promise to lower prices and break the cost-of-living crisis.”
After winning the primary, Brown thanked Ohioans for supporting him in one of his posts on X.

“Ohioans are fed up with the corruption and greed in Washington. They deserve a senator who fights for working families, not CEOs and billionaires,” he wrote. “That’s why we’re going to win this November.”