Defend Developers PAC Adds New DeFi Voice to Crypto Election Spending

A new political action committee called Defend Developers has entered the U.S. crypto campaign-finance arena, with a focus on backing lawmakers who support legal protections for crypto developers and decentralized finance projects. The PAC was federally registered in May and announced its effort on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk.

The development matters because crypto policy fights are increasingly being shaped not only in agencies and courts, but also through election spending. Defend Developers is smaller than major industry players such as Fairshake, but it is targeting a specific issue: shielding builders and DeFi creators from legal vulnerability.

Founder Gavin Zavatone said the PAC plans to raise and contribute more than six figures across dozens of midterm races. Zavatone is also policy lead at the DeFi Education Fund, a trade group that advocates for DeFi-friendly policy.

Defend Developers is structured as a hybrid PAC, meaning it can make limited direct contributions to candidates while also accepting unlimited corporate funds for independent advertising. CoinDesk reported that its board includes people from Uniswap Labs, the DeFi Education Fund and the Solana Policy Institute, though initial funding totals have not been disclosed.

The new committee joins a broader crypto political field that includes Fairshake, the Fellowship PAC linked to Tether and the Digital Freedom Fund tied to Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Fairshake remains the dominant force, with recent primary wins and much larger spending capacity.

The stakes are high heading into the November general election, where control of at least one chamber of Congress could shift. For crypto companies and builders, the growth of specialized PACs shows how policy priorities around DeFi, developer liability and regulation are becoming campaign issues as well as legislative ones.