COLUMBUS, Ohio—Republican U.S. Senate nominee Bernie Moreno said Monday that he‘s proud to have the support of the cryptocurrency industry, which has dumped tens of millions of dollars into Ohio’s red-hot Senate race so far on his behalf.
Moreno, a Cleveland businessman, said at a campaign event in Columbus that, if elected to the Senate, he would seek to give “regulatory certainty” to Bitcoin and other digital currencies. He accused his rival, Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, of wanting to “ban” Bitcoin and not having even a basic understanding of how crypto works.
“Let me just end the myth right here: The crypto industry does not want no regulation. That’s totally false,” Moreno said.
However, Moreno said, right now government regulators “punish” cryptocurrency companies for rules they didn’t even know existed. “What I want to do,” Moreno said, “is give them regulatory certainty so they understand: here’s the guardrails, here’s the rules of the road.”
Moreno said he supports creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve, which some members of both major parties have called for. He also said he thinks Americans’ 401(k) retirement accounts should be allowed to partially (but not entirely) be made up of investments in cryptocurrencies – a move many employers have been wary to do since the U.S. Department of Labor issued an advisory in 2022 expressing “serious concerns” with the idea.
Ohio’s 2024 U.S. Senate race has become the most expensive non-presidential political race in U.S. history, according to Moreno, with more than $460 million in ads reserved so far, according to media reports.
The largest single spender in the race has been a pro-crypto super PAC called Defend American Jobs, which in recent weeks has launched a nearly $41 million ad campaign on Moreno’s behalf. The industry even staged a free rock concert last Friday featuring The Black Keys in their hometown of Akron.
Moreno has been a vocal advocate for crypto well before he entered the Senate race. He successfully pushed for Ohio to become the first state to accept Bitcoin for tax payments in 2018, and he’s advocated for years for Northeast Ohio leaders to embrace blockchain – the driver of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. He created and sold a company, Champ Titles, that incorporated blockchain into the auto title industry.
“I’m proud that the industry supports me,” Moreno said Monday. “And by the way, the reason they supported me is because they agree with me, not because I agree with them.”
Moreno said that, in case anyone suspects that he’s supporting crypto for personal gain, he sold all his Bitcoin — “to (my) great dismay,” he added.
The cryptocurrency industry isn’t just spending big in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race because of Moreno’s support for it. It’s because Brown, a vocal cryptocurrency skeptic, chairs the Senate Banking Committee, giving him enormous influence over federal crypto policy.
The advocacy group Stand With Crypto, which grades political candidates based on their support of the cryptocurrency industry, has awarded Moreno an “A” grade; Brown received an “F.”
The race between Brown and Moreno, considered one of the most competitive in the nation this year, comes as crypto companies are trying to push through significant reforms to how their industry is regulated – including legislation that would shift oversight over crypto from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to the smaller Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Moreno blasted Brown’s past statements that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are used for money laundering, drug dealing, and other illicit activities.
Outside studies have shown to be the case – one study from last July found crypto was involved in nearly $100 billion worth of illicit money-laundering transactions since 2019. But Moreno pointed to the case of HSBC, a British bank that paid a then-record $1.9 billion in 2012 to settle a money-laundering case.
“If you found a random stranger at (the Cleveland Browns’) stadium, they’re more knowledgeable and more qualified to regulate cryptocurrency than Sherrod Brown,” Moreno said. “The guy doesn’t probably even understand how email works, let alone be able to understand how to regulate cryptocurrency.”
Asked to comment on Moreno’s statements, Brown campaign spokeswoman Reeves Oyster replied, “Outside groups are spending record amounts to try to defeat Sherrod because they know he will always fight for Ohio, not special interests.”
Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.