Morning Minute: Crypto Gives Up on Congress and Goes After Senators
After the Clarity Act failed in the Senate, crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto shifted its focus from passing legislation to influencing Senate races, announcing first endorsements that include Jon Husted in Ohio. Separately, MetaMask is withdrawing its Ethereum validators from Lido after a security breach, with the unstaking process set to complete by October 7 and ETH withdrawals taking up to 45 days to finalize.
Why It Matters
The political push signals the industry is prioritizing electoral influence to shape future rulemaking after a narrowly defeated bill, while the MetaMask incident raises fresh security concerns for staking infrastructure and liquid staking protocols.
Key Facts
- Stand With Crypto endorsements: Jon Husted (OH), Ashley Hinson (IA), Chris Pappas (NH); also backing Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA) and Shomari Figures (AL) for the House
- Clarity Act Senate vote: Failed 49-50; every Democrat voted against it
- Crypto political spending: Approaching $200 million this election cycle; Fairshake PAC launched a $30 million campaign against Sherrod Brown
- MetaMask staking action: Withdrawing all Ethereum validators from Lido after an infrastructure breach; exits finish by October 7; ETH withdrawals may take up to 45 days to complete
- Market snapshot: BTC $83.9k, ETH $2,705, SOL $118, HYPE $90
Stand With Crypto, the advocacy arm created by Coinbase in 2023, has recalibrated its strategy following the narrow Senate defeat of the Clarity Act and is now directing resources to contested campaigns. The group announced Senate endorsements including Republican Jon Husted in Ohio — a race it frames as pivotal because a victory for Sherrod Brown would put a long-time critic of crypto back on the Senate Banking Committee. Stand With Crypto says it selects candidates based on their crypto positions irrespective of party and has previously endorsed 32 House incumbents.
The organization does not donate directly, but its ratings and voter outreach tend to steer funding from crypto-aligned political action committees. Industry political spending this cycle is nearing $200 million, and Fairshake PAC has launched a $30 million effort targeting Sen. Sherrod Brown. The Clarity Act itself failed by a single vote (49-50), with every Democrat opposing it amid concerns tied to former President Trump’s crypto-related businesses.
On the security front, MetaMask Staking is pulling its Ethereum validators out of the Lido liquid-staking protocol after an attacker compromised parts of its infrastructure. The withdrawals are scheduled to complete by October 7, and the unstaked ETH may require up to 45 days to reappear in withdrawal-capable form. The event has unnerved some users and raised questions about operational risk in liquid staking arrangements.
Other market and industry developments noted include Citi revising its year-end price targets higher for Bitcoin ($113,000) and Ether ($3,028), Solana reporting a nine-month high in monthly app revenue at $180 million for September, and Open Standard launching the OUSD stablecoin with more than 100 partner companies and over $400 million in initial liquidity. Additional items cited in the update include Zcash holders approving $8.39 million in grants, a Lloyds–Visa USDC settlement test worth $750,000, and net outflows from Bitcoin and Ether ETFs on the day reported.
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