Reported FEC Hack Could Obscure Crypto PAC Spending Before Midterms

The US Federal Election Commission (FEC) continued to experience an “electronic filing system outage” at 7:48 p.m. UTC on Tuesday as the 2026 midterm elections approached. Reuters reported that an email indicated the disruption was caused by the FEC website being targeted by a hacker or hackers, while an FEC spokesperson said IT staff were actively working to restore service.

The system remained accessible for viewing campaign-finance data, but the outage could prevent timely disclosure of last-minute spending. Super PACs must report expenditures of $1,000 or more to the FEC within 24 hours. Candidates must disclose contributions of at least $1,000 within 48 hours during the 20 days preceding an election.

With six days remaining until Election Day, FEC records showed no expenditures since Sunday from several crypto-aligned Super PACs: Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, Protect Progress, Fellowship and Digital Freedom Fund. That apparent lack of activity could be obscured by delayed or unavailable filings, and Fairshake did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Digital Freedom Fund, launched by Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, disclosed spending of more than $572,000 on text messages supporting Republican Senate candidates, primarily Ken Paxton’s Texas campaign. Protect Progress’s latest pre-outage filing included more than $50,000 for direct mail supporting Rep. Aisha Wahab in California’s 14th district. The disclosures are particularly significant as crypto advocates seek congressional support for digital-asset legislation following the failure to advance a federal crypto market-structure bill in September.