Republican Crypto-Friendly Candidate Wins Senate Race

Republican crypto-friendly candidate Bernie Moreno clinched a win in the U.S. Senate race against Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Moreno secured a spot in the Senate on Tuesday night by a margin of 50.6% to 46%, according to The Associated Press.

Moreno won against Brown, who served in the Senate since 2007. Super political action committee Fairshake donated $12 million to Moreno in a bid to unseat Brown, according to multiple news reports. Moreno co-founded ChampTitles, which uses blockchain technology to issue car titles. Moreno has made multiple statements about crypto, including a pledge to "lead the fight to defend crypto in the U.S. Senate" in an interview with Fox Business in June.

> "Forever politicians like Sherrod Brown and Joe Biden don't understand the first thing about crypto and are totally unqualified to regulate it," he said in a post on X sharing the interview. "They are obsessed with destroying crypto because they hate American innovation."

Brown has been viewed as critical to the crypto industry over the years. As chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Brown holds the purse strings for which legislation is brought up, including crypto bills. Brown has called for a crackdown on the use of cryptocurrency to fund terrorism and evade sanctions and has told federal agencies to use their current authority to go after bad actors in the industry.

With Brown losing his race, the Senate Banking Committee chair spot is up for grabs. Notably, the committee also has jurisdiction over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Republicans took the Senate majority on Tuesday night, according to The Associated Press. This means Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., could take the helm as chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Scott, currently the top Republican on the Senate committee, has more recently shown support for the crypto industry. In August, he proposed creating a subcommittee focused on the digital asset industry if he became chair. A spokesperson for Scott previously told The Block that the lawmaker plans to work on a framework to regulate digital assets should he become chair.

There was a chance that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., could become chair if Democrats had taken the majority in the Senate. Warren has been critical of crypto and has been pushing for the crypto industry to follow anti-money laundering rules, and is behind a bill that would extend Bank Secrecy Act requirements, including know-your-customer rules, to miners, validators, and wallet providers.

Update: Nov. 6, 5:00 a.m. UTC – Republican majority in the Senate confirmed; additional details included.