New DeFi entrant widens field of crypto political campaign funds as elections loom
Key takeaways
- By Jesse Hamilton|Edited by Nikhilesh De Jun 3, 2026, 6:50 p.m. 3 min read Make preferred on A new political action committee has been announced that will aim to support legal shields for crypto developers.
- Zavatone is also the policy lead at the DeFi Education Fund, a trade association that lobbies for DeFi-friendly policymaking.
- The board of directors behind him include members from Uniswap Labs, DEF and the Solana Policy Institute, though no dollar amounts have yet been disclosed about its initial funding.
By Jesse Hamilton|Edited by Nikhilesh De Jun 3, 2026, 6:50 p.m. 3 min read Make preferred on A new political action committee has been announced that will aim to support legal shields for crypto developers. (illustration by Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk)What to know: A new political action committee called Defend Developers has been established, joining the ranks of other crypto PACs such as Fairshake.This one will focus on giving to incumbent politicians who already support establishing legal protections for crypto developers and decentralized finance.Another crypto-focused political action committee, the Defend Developers PAC, has joined the field of campaign-funding operations that have in recent years put the industry on the political map.
The new entrant won't rival the sector's leading super PAC, Fairshake, nor is it expected to jump to the scale of the mid-level committees that include the Fellowship PAC linked to Tether and the Digital Freedom Fund tied to Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss at Gemini. But it's approaching the political field differently than others, by backing incumbent lawmakers who've already proven to be allies to its cause: the legal protection of crypto developers and creators of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.
"We plan to raise and contribute more than six figures across dozens of key races in the midterms, because crypto technologists deserve champions in Congress who will go to bat for them,” said Gavin Zavatone, the PAC's founder, in a Wednesday statement announcing the effort. Zavatone is also the policy lead at the DeFi Education Fund, a trade association that lobbies for DeFi-friendly policymaking.