John Deaton cinches Republican nomination with $1.3M in crypto support 

Attorney John Deaton aims to take Elizabeth Warren’s US Senate seat this November

article-image

Deacons docs/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

John Deaton came out on top in a three-way Republican primary Tuesday night, positioning the cryptocurrency advocate and attorney to take on incumbent Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren in November. 

“Tomorrow, we begin the next phase of the campaign — an effort that will hold Elizabeth Warren accountable for her failures on the border, the unaffordable cost of supporting a family, a broken healthcare system, abandoning our ally Israel and restoring faith in our politics,” Deaton said in a statement Tuesday evening. 

Deaton received almost two-thirds of votes in Tuesday’s primary, latest vote counts show. He also beat his opponents when it came to funding. The Deaton campaign, as of mid-August, had raised a total of $1.7 million, $1 million of which was a loan from Deaton himself. 

Read more: Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton launches bid against Elizabeth Warren

Industrial engineer Robert Antonellis — who was Deaton’s runner-up in the primary with 26% of votes — had raised $46,449 for his campaign as of mid-August, per Federal Election Commission filings. About half of this amount was from a personal loan from Antonellis. 

Polling data for the Warren vs. Deaton race is not yet available, but Warren has historically performed well against Republican opponents. In 2012, she won her seat by defeating incumbent GOP Sen. Scott Brown with 53% of the vote. In her most recent election in 2018, she secured re-election by a 60%-36% margin against Republican Geoff Diehl.

While the topic of crypto in the presidential election has so far been one-sided, the race for Massachusetts’ US Senate seat now includes two candidates with a track record in digital asset policy.

Warren last session introduced the “Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act Of 2022,” a bill that would reclassify crypto companies, including wallet providers and miners, as money services businesses. She re-introduced the legislation in December 2023, although the bill has not yet made it to the floor for a vote. 

Read more: Senate money laundering bills continue to duel, Dems get 9 new sponsors

In December 2023, Warren penned a letter to crypto exchange Coinbase and lobby groups Coin Center and the Blockchain Association, accusing the organizations of hiring ex-government officials in an attempt to “undermine” digital asset regulation progress in Washington. 

Deaton, on the other hand, emerged as somewhat of a hero in the crypto industry — at least for Ripple fans — in 2021 when he filed a motion to intervene on behalf of thousands of XRP holders in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ripple, arguing that their interests were not being represented in the case. Deaton also owned XRP.

Ripple later donated $1 million to the Commonwealth Unity Fund, a super political action committee (PAC) also backed by Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Commonwealth Unity Fund has spent around $1.3 million on pro-Deaton efforts as of early August, FEC records show. 

Other pro-crypto PACs Fairshake and Defend American Jobs have so far not supported Deaton. 

While Deaton does not have a formal crypto policy plan on his website, his campaign has been accepting cryptocurrency donations since March. 

Deaton and Warren do not yet have a debate scheduled, but Deaton said on Tuesday he looks forward to the opportunity to address the Senator on stage. 

A modified version of this article first appeared in the daily On the Margin newsletter. Subscribe here so you don’t miss tomorrow’s edition.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

The DeFi Education Fund has ideas on how the crypto-friendly SEC can bring Commissioner Peirce’s vision to life

article-image

“Be prepared to do more with less,” Framework Ventures’ Michael Anderson said

article-image

Q1 may have been “frustrating,” but things are looking brighter for Q2

article-image

Tokens worth 20% of the current supply of the TRUMP memecoin launched by the president are set to be unlocked tomorrow

article-image

A crypto-industry lawsuit is “moot” now that Joint Resolution 25 has been signed into law

article-image

Fed Chair Powell assured markets that the labor market is in “good place,” dependent on price stability