A group of Democrat Senators said in a statement late Wednesday that the bill still fell “short” of where it needed to be to get their support, but that they would keep working on it with Republicans. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, argued Wednesday that the policy as written would let Trump continue his crypto businesses largely untouched, and any improper activity would be ignored by his loyal Department of Justice and then legally fenced off from prosecution once he leaves office.

Other outstanding issues

Beyond ethics, lawmakers may continue to negotiate over illicit finance provisions, Lummis said.

“We think we’ve landed in a good place,” she said, because the effort addresses the Bank Secrecy Act, money-laundering protections, sanction coverage for exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Some of the new additions were made at the request of law enforcement, such as a provision addressing crypto automated teller machine (ATM) fraud.

There is also a safe harbor for crypto platforms to freeze funds if they suspect the assets are tied to suspicious transactions, particularly if those companies are cooperating with law enforcement, she said.

The text also includes a provision saying it is the “sense of Congress” that at least two of the commissioners on the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission would be nominated in consultation with the minority party. Right now, neither agency has any Democratic commissioners, with the SEC helmed by three Republicans, while the CFTC just has a single commissioner running the agency.

A cryptocurrency-aligned political action committee (PAC) affiliate is spending heavily in a Michigan Democratic primary that will decide who advances to the November general election. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings posted as of Tuesday, Protect Progress PAC has poured more than $986,000 into ads backing Rep. Shri Thanedar while also funding messaging against his challenger, Donavan McKinney, ahead of an Aug. 4 primary.

The spending comes at a moment when crypto industry-linked political groups are working to shape which candidates reach Congress. The Michigan race is one of several contests referenced in recent FEC disclosures showing continued efforts by Fairshake and related entities to influence elections on “pro-crypto” policy priorities.

Key takeaways

• Protect Progress PAC reported spending over $986,000 on ads supporting Shri Thanedar and opposing Donavan McKinney ahead of Michigan’s 13th district Democratic primary on Aug. 4.
• The PAC’s approach mirrors its 2024 spending, when it backed Thanedar with about $1 million before he won both the primary and the general election.
• Fairshake and affiliates have reported a sizable political “war chest,” with filings indicating $191 million available to influence key races.
• In addition to Michigan, Protect Progress PAC activity cited in FEC data includes Arizona media buys supporting Rep. Greg Stanton.
• Other Fairshake-linked groups referenced in FEC reports are also active in Washington primaries, including a media spend to support a candidate described as publicly supportive of crypto.

Protect Progress steps up in Michigan’s 13th district

FEC paperwork filed by Protect Progress PAC shows that, as of Tuesday, the committee had spent more than $986,000 on advertising tied to Michigan’s 13th congressional district. The ads were described in filings as supporting Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar and opposing his Democratic primary challenger Donavan McKinney.

Those expenditures were reported roughly two weeks before the scheduled primary on Aug. 4. The timing is notable because primary races often hinge on relatively short bursts of messaging that can define a candidate’s perceived record and priorities for voters before ballots are cast.

Protect Progress’ media push in Michigan also reflects its earlier investment in Thanedar’s political trajectory. In 2024, the PAC reportedly spent about $1 million supporting Thanedar. That year, he won the Democratic primary with 54.9% of the vote and then carried the general election with 68.6% against Republican and other opponents.

Crypto policy backdrop: votes, investments, and campaign narratives

The Michigan ads and counter-messaging are unfolding against a record that has been used by both sides to frame the race as a referendum on crypto-related legislation and financial ties.

The article notes that Thanedar previously supported multiple crypto-related bills while serving in the House, including the CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Act, and the Promoting Innovation in Blockchain Development Act. Those policy positions have been a consistent element in how “pro-crypto” advocacy groups portray candidate alignment.

For his part, McKinney has not been described in the filing coverage as having made prominent public statements directly supporting or opposing digital assets before this campaign. By contrast, the coverage describes Thanedar as having invested campaign funds into crypto companies while in office, citing reporting that he lost more than $600,000 in the second quarter of 2026 after investing $3.7 million of campaign funds into crypto-related companies.

McKinney’s response to the Protect Progress spending was pointed. In a Tuesday statement referenced in the coverage, he argued that “the crypto lobby” was effectively backing his opponent, accusing it of seeking to stop his movement in the race.

Election influence spreads beyond Michigan

The Michigan primary is only one piece of a larger map of political spending. FEC reporting referenced in the coverage indicates that Fairshake and affiliated entities have reported having $191 million available in a “war chest” intended for election influence across multiple key races.

That broad capacity is linked to a network of PACs connected to the crypto industry’s political engagement. The coverage points to other groups including Fellowship, which is described as backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, and the Blockchain Leadership Fund, described as a hybrid PAC backed by Anchorage and Chainlink Labs.

Even within the same Protect Progress ecosystem, the cited FEC activity goes past Michigan. According to the article, Protect Progress PAC also spent more than $100,000 on media supporting Representative Greg Stanton’s reelection bid in Arizona. It further notes that Stanton voted for CLARITY and GENIUS while in the House and that he won his Tuesday primary in Arizona’s 4th district with 65% of the vote.

In Washington, the primary calendar listed for Aug. 4 is also tied to possible Fairshake-affiliated involvement. FEC filings cited in the coverage indicate that the Defend American Jobs PAC spent more than $65,000 on media to support Amanda McKinney, a Republican candidate running for Washington’s 4th congressional district. The reporting also notes that she has made at least one public statement supporting crypto.

The article further states that Representative Dan Newhouse announced in 2025 that he would not seek reelection in that district, underscoring why outside spending could matter more in open-seat or competitive races.

What to watch between now and the primary

With Protect Progress’ reported advertising push arriving just weeks ahead of Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary, the most immediate signal for voters and campaign strategists will be how quickly counter-arguments—particularly around crypto policy alignment and campaign-finance-related claims—gain traction in the same short window.

Readers following crypto-linked political spending should also watch whether Fairshake-affiliated committees continue to shift focus across multiple states on the same calendar, and whether forthcoming reporting from election filings adds clarity on how far these media buys extend as the primaries near.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched an 18-asset crypto index that excludes Bitcoin and ranks eligible blockchain networks by the protocol revenue generated during the previous two quarters.

According to a joint announcement from the companies, the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index is designed to measure established network activity instead of relying only on token prices or market capitalization. The benchmark may support investment products, institutional allocations, and actively managed digital asset portfolios.

Bitcoin and XRP are the largest assets from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index that failed to enter the new benchmark, S&P Dow Jones Indices wrote in an Indexology blog post. Their absence comes from the index’s revenue requirements rather than their market value, liquidity, or name recognition.

S&P Dow Jones Indices CEO Kathy Clay told CNBC that Bitcoin did not qualify because it is not a revenue-generating protocol under the index’s rules.

“Bitcoin is not in there because it’s really not one of those revenue-generating protocols that we think belongs in this index and meets all of the criteria.”

Unlike smart-contract platforms, Bitcoin rewards miners with newly issued coins and transaction fees for securing its network. S&P’s methodology, however, focuses on revenue linked to activity across protocols and applications, which favors blockchains that collect fees from transactions, trading and other services.

Clay told CNBC that S&P wanted to apply principles used in traditional equity indexes to digital assets by measuring factors that matter to professional investors. The approach creates a benchmark centered on the economic activity of blockchain networks rather than the size of their tokens alone.

Protocol revenue determines which crypto assets qualify

Drawn from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index, the eligible universe must first pass minimum requirements for protocol revenue, market capitalization and liquidity, according to the companies. Assets that clear those screens are ranked by their total protocol revenue across the two most recent quarters.

Adjusted market capitalization then determines the weight of each qualifying asset. Under the index rules, the largest constituent cannot exceed 35%, while the other holdings are generally limited to 20%.

Quarterly rebalancing allows the benchmark to add, remove or resize constituents as their revenue, liquidity and market value change. As a result, an asset’s position depends on continued network use as well as its ability to meet the index’s trading requirements.

Ether, BNB, Solana, TRON and Hyperliquid’s HYPE token hold the five largest positions at launch, according to S&P’s Indexology post. Each asset represents a network that collects revenue from transactions or applications operating through its infrastructure.

By comparison, many crypto benchmarks give Bitcoin their largest allocation because they use market capitalization as the main weighting measure. Bitcoin represented about 57% of the total cryptocurrency market when the index was introduced, according to CoinGecko data cited by Investopedia.

The Nasdaq CME Crypto Index assigned Bitcoin a weighting of nearly 77%, while Ether held about 13%, Investopedia reported. The FTSE Digital Asset All Cap Index also placed roughly 75% of its weight in Bitcoin, showing how market-cap-based methods can concentrate portfolios in the largest asset.

S&P’s new benchmark does not remove market capitalization from the calculation completely. Instead, the methodology uses revenue to decide which assets qualify and how they rank before adjusted market value sets their final weights.

Pantera Capital’s participation also connects the index with a crypto-focused investment manager that has backed blockchain projects and digital assets. Under the joint framework, S&P provides its index construction and governance experience while Pantera contributes knowledge of blockchain networks and their economic models.

Fund providers are expanding multi-asset crypto exposure

The revenue-based index follows S&P Dow Jones Indices’ launch of the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index in October 2025. That benchmark combines 15 cryptocurrencies with 35 publicly traded companies involved in digital asset infrastructure and services, according to S&P’s index description.

Hashdex has also expanded index-based crypto investing through the Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF. The manager says the fund uses eligibility checks covering market size, liquidity, custody and U.S. regulatory requirements before assets can enter its benchmark.

Franklin Templeton entered the category in February 2025 with its Franklin Crypto Index ETF, or EZPZ. At launch, the fund tracked Bitcoin and Ether through the CF Institutional Digital Asset Index, according to the firm’s launch announcement.

Franklin later expanded the fund’s underlying index to include XRP, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, Stellar and Chainlink alongside Bitcoin and Ether, according to the manager’s current product information. The additions show how rules-based crypto funds can change their holdings when more assets meet regulatory and investment requirements.

MarketVector Indexes and Coinbase Asset Management took another route in April by introducing the Coinbase Store of Value Index. Their benchmark combines Bitcoin with tokenized gold and applies inverse-volatility weighting, giving less weight to the asset showing higher price swings.

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan predicted in December that crypto index funds would become important during 2026 because the market was growing more complex and its use cases were multiplying. In a Bitwise investment memo, Hougan argued that diversified funds could help investors gain exposure without having to identify every eventual winner.

The S&P Pantera index applies that diversification idea to revenue-producing networks, leaving the market’s largest cryptocurrency outside the benchmark while giving leading positions to blockchains with measurable fee activity.