Two groups affiliated with the cryptocurrency company-backed political action committee (PAC) Fairshake disclosed spending more than $1.5 million on media to support House of Representatives and Senate candidates in Florida, Alaska and Wyoming after suffering a primary loss in Michigan on Tuesday. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings as of Thursday, Fairshake PAC affiliates Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress spent a combined $1.5 million on ads for Republican and Democratic candidates, many of whom voted in favor of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act while serving in Congress. In Alaska’s at-large congressional district, scheduled to hold a primary on Aug. 18, Defend American Jobs spent more than $500,000 on media supporting the re-election of Representative Nick Begich. The Super PAC spent about the same amount on Republican candidate Sydney Gruters in Florida’s 16th district, and Representative Harriet Hageman, running for the soon-to-be-vacant Wyoming Senate seat now occupied by Cynthia Lummis. Both US states will also hold primaries on Aug. 18.The reported expenditures follow a primary loss for a Protect Progress-supported candidate in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. On Tuesday, Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar lost a primary to State Representative Donavan McKinney after the Super PAC poured more than $2 million into media supporting the former. The final day of Thanedar’s current term in Congress will be in January 2027.Related: US Senate will vote on CLARITY crypto bill ‘without any question’ this week: Tim ScottOn the Democratic side, Protect Progress reported spending more than $50,000 for the re-election of Lois Frankel in Florida’s 23rd district. Frankel, Begich and Hageman all voted in favor of the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act while serving in Congress, while Gruters did not appear to have made any public statements on crypto or blockchain, with the exception of saying she supported the crypto market structure bill in a questionnaire conducted by the advocacy organization Stand With Crypto.The expenditures were the latest examples of Fairshake and cryptocurrency industry-aligned groups attempting to influence US elections through media. The Super PAC reported spending more than $170 million in the 2024 US election cycle on House and Senate races, potentially changing the makeup of the current Congress.CLARITY votes to influence 2026 midterms?While it was still uncertain as of Thursday whether the US Senate would hold a vote on the CLARITY Act before the chamber broke for a month-long recess, how lawmakers cast their ballots could affect whether the crypto industry actively supports or opposes their re-election bids. All 435 House seats are up for grabs in 2026, as are 33 seats in the US Senate.In January, Stand With Crypto said that its “primary goal” in 2026 was getting crypto market structure legislation through Congress. The organization’s community director, Mason Lynaugh, told Cointelegraph in November that how lawmakers vote on the bill could impact their re-election chances. Stand With Crypto rates political candidates on a scale of “strongly supports crypto” to “strongly against crypto” depending on their voting records and public statements, which may be used by PACs and organizations deciding where to allocate funds.Magazine: 10 weirdest things ever tokenized… including farts

Demand for US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has accelerated over the past week, with a string of daily inflows coinciding with the Coldcard wallet hack — timing that has prompted speculation about whether some investors are reconsidering self-custody.According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) as well as Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MSTR ETF (MSBT) have recorded inflows every trading day since the weekend exploit, totaling roughly $620 million. The cumulative figure is consistent with Cointelegraph’s recent reporting on the ETF inflow streak.The Coldcard exploit drained more than $116 million worth of Bitcoin from over 5,200 wallet addresses, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.“I’m not saying it’s connected, we just don’t know,” Balchunas said in a post on X. “[Although]  long-term I can’t imagine there aren’t some who migrate over.”Source: Eric BalchunasRelated: Bitcoin Red Team reports 5K findings in sweeping security auditColdcard exploit renews debate over self-custody risksThe Coldcard hack renewed concerns that even hardware wallet users can be exposed to firmware flaws and software vulnerabilities, highlighting the operational risks that come with self-custody.The incident also reignited debate over the trade-offs between holding Bitcoin directly and gaining exposure through regulated investment products such as spot Bitcoin ETFs, where asset custody and security are handled by institutional providers.Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also weighed in on the debate, arguing that storing crypto on centralized exchanges may now be “statistically safer” than self-custody, citing data from analyst Willy Woo that cumulative Bitcoin losses from self-custody incidents have surpassed those from exchange hacks.Source: Changpeng Zhao“Hack data is easier to collect on the CEX side, usually major news. It is harder on the self-custody side, where hacks, lost coins, etc are often not reported,” CZ said.The debate comes as AI-assisted cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated. On Monday, Bitcoin swap service Boltz suspended its non-custodial bridge, citing a steady rise in AI-assisted exploits that were allowing attackers to identify and exploit vulnerabilities faster than its team could patch them.Magazine: Do the Coldcard attacks mean all hardware wallets are now insecure?

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Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.